JEDDAH, 9 February 2006 — Saudi Arabia’s value of total exports hit a record in 2004 according to the 2005 trade statistics of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
The trade statistics, which were published in the last week of January, show that for the first time in the past 25 years, the total value of Saudi exports reached its highest level of $106.9 billion in 2004. This was the first time for Saudi exports to exceed $100 billion in a single year since 1980 when the value of the exports was $101.5 billion.
The value of Saudi exports increased in 2004 by 14.7 percent over 2003 when the exports reached $93 billion. The increase is mainly the result of the rise in the global demand for oil in 2004. The value of the Saudi exports in 2004 was the highest in West Asia; and in the same year the percentage of the Saudi exports to the total exports of the entire West Asian region was 26 percent. The Saudi exports fell to an alarming level in 1990 reaching $44 billion. This was the lowest point for Saudi exports in the last 25 years. Saudi exports started to increase slightly in the 1990s until it picked up again in 2000.
The value of Saudi exports of services increased to an all-time high of $5.85 billion in 2004.
In 1985, the value of Saudi exports of services was $3.56 billion and it increased slightly following that year until it reached $5.37 billion in 1999. After 1999, the value of Saudi exports of services declined until it picked up back again in 2003 when it reached $5.7 billion. In 2004, the percentage of Saudi exports of services to that of the entire region of West Asia was 12 percent, almost half of the percentage of its total exports to that of West Asia.
The Saudi exports of services in 1985 were the second highest in West Asia behind Iraq which exported $4.95 billion in services in that year. Turkey came third in 1985 behind Iraq and Saudi Arabia with $2.86 billion in exports of services. In 2004, Saudi Arabia is still in the second place in West Asia in terms of exports of services but this time it is behind Turkey whose value of services was $24 billion. This is 12 times more than what it exported in 1985 and four times that of Saudi Arabia in 2004.