The report said there was a 34 percent surge in Saudi exports and 12 percent increase in imports in 2010 compared to the previous year.
“Last year also witnessed a 20 percent increase in the seizure of prohibited goods,” the department said. There were about 16,400 smuggling attempts through the Kingdom’s air, land and sea borders.
The department seized 15.7 million units of counterfeit products, the report said, representing a 149 percent increase in this category compared to 2009.
The department earns its revenue from customs tariffs imposed on imports and exports as well as from fines and vehicle entry fees.
Of the total revenues earned by the department, SR12.7 billion or 85 percent came from seaports with Jeddah Islamic Port accounting for 36 percent, followed by King Abdul Aziz Port in Dammam (22.3 percent).
Customs departments at airports made SR952 million revenue with King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah providing SR394.5 million, followed by King Khaled International Airport in Riyadh with SR323.7 million.
Customs departments at land border checkpoints earned a total of SR1.8 billion with Bathaa customs making SR427 million and Hudaitha SR246 million.
Jeddah Islamic Port received the largest volume of imports valued at SR160 billion and handled exports worth SR22 billion in 2010 while the Dammam port received imports worth SR82 billion and handled exports worth SR16 billion. The two ports combined received 61 percent of total imports.
Jubail Port topped the list of Saudi ports that handled the largest volume of exports worth SR33.6 billion. “Together with Jeddah and Dammam ports it handled 61 percent of total exports,” the report said.
The Kingdom’s total exports rose by 31 percent in 2010 to SR941.79 billion compared to SR721.11 billion in 2009. The volume of exports rose by 7 percent to reach 391,806 tons, according to a report issued by the General Statistics & Information Department.
Customs at various entry points handled 16.7 million vehicles including cars, showing an increase of 2.2 percent compared to 2009 with the customs department at King Fahd Causeway dealing with 40 percent of vehicles.
“More than 32 million passengers came by the land, air and sea entry points in 2010 while 31.5 million passengers left the Kingdom,” the report said. More than 17 million people crossed the King Fahd Causeway.
The number of foreign pilgrims who came for Haj reached more than 1.8 million; among them 1.6 million or 91 percent came by air on 6,673 flights.
The total number of goods seized by the customs in 2010 reached more than 50 million units, which is 13.6 percent less than the figure of 2009.
