Saudi Arabia's Trade Surplus Widens in August as Export Volumes Rebound

05:54 AM EDT, 10/26/2026 (MT Newswires) -- Saudi Arabia's merchandise trade surplus rose in August, underpinned by an uptick in export volumes, including national non-oil exports, data from the General Authority for Statistics showed Monday. The surplus came in at 15.60 billion Saudi riyals, up from July's revised amount of 13.24 billion riyals and down 21% year over year. Merchandise exports increased by 3.3% to 87.24 billion riyals from the previous month and fell 11.5% annually. While oil sales and non-oil exports, including re-exports, were down year over year by 12.5% and 9.1%, respectively, national non-oil exports excluding re-exports rose by 8.5%. Oil's share of total exports dipped to 70% from 70.8% a year earlier. Meanwhile, plastic, rubber, and related articles accounted for 22.6% of non-oil exports, with shipments of the product category climbing by 7.5% versus the prior year. The United Arab Emirates was the largest buyer of the kingdom's goods for the month, taking 11.4% of overall exports, followed by South Korea at 11.2% and India at 8.4%. Looking at import trends, merchandise imports ticked up by 0.6% to 71.64 billion riyals from July and declined by 9.1% on an annual basis. Machinery, electrical equipment and parts were Saudi Arabia's top import, at 26.2% of the total, and were down 19.8% year on year. China was the country's primary source of imports, providing 21.9% of all goods, with the US and Egypt accounting for 8.4% and 5.8%, respectively.