Riyadh, March 24, 2022, SPA -- The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s overall merchandise exports increased by 49.6% in January 2022 compared to January 2021. The value of exports amounted to SAR 107.6 billion in January 2022, up from SAR 71.9 billion in January 2021, according to the International Trade Report for January 2022 issued today by the General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT) on its official website. This increase originated mainly from oil exports, which rose by SAR 30.5 billion or 57.5% in the same period. The share of oil exports in total exports increased from 73.7% in January 2021 to 77.6% in January 2022. Compared to December 2021, total merchandise exports increased by SAR 1.0 billion or 1.0%. The non-oil exports increased by 27.5% year-on-year in January 2022, rising to SAR 24.1 billion from SAR 18.9 billion in January 2021. The most important non-oil goods were 'Plastics and Rubber and Articles Thereof' (32.7% of non-oil merchandise exports) increased by 28.9% SAR 1.8 billion and 'Products of the Chemical or Allied Industries' (31.2% of non-oil merchandise exports) increased by 44.4% SAR 2.3 billion from January 2021. The the most important imported commodities were 'Machinery and Mechanical Appliances; Electrical Equipment' (22.3% of total merchandise imports), and 'Products of the Chemical or Allied Industries' (15.0% of total merchandise imports). As many as SAR 14.2 billion of imports, corresponding to 27.4% of the total, entered the Kingdom from Jeddah Islamic Sea Port in January 2022. Among the other major ports of entry for the imports were King Abdulaziz Port (20.3%), King Khalid International Airport (12.7%), King Fahad Airport (6.1%), and Bat'ha (5.9%). Those five ports together accounted for 72.3% of the total merchandise imports of the Kingdom. --SPA 16:08 LOCAL TIME 13:08 GMT 0016 www.spa.gov.sa/w1711950