Saudi Arabia Records Historical Levels in Non-Oil Exports

Saudi non-oil exports hit their highest-ever monthly level in June 2021; after reaching SAR23.5bn, the Saudi Export Development Authority (Saudi Exports) said in a statement.

Exports in June went up by 40% from a year ago; when the country made exports with a total value of SAR16.8bn, it said.

The number in June includes exports of products worth SAR21bn, while the country made SR2.5bn in re-exports of goods.

This year Saudi exports continued rising above the SAR20bn mark, the statement said. This comes when the global economy is recovering from the pandemic; while the number of Saudi plants kept increasing beyond 10,000.

The Kingdom's Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar bin Ibrahim al-Khorayef pointed out that authorities' support played a vital role in bringing non-oil export figures up and overcoming any challenges.

Supporting exporters and the national industrial sector

"We look forward to more efforts by the Saudi Export Development Authority and the Saudi Export-Import Bank," said the minister.

In other news, authorities in the Kingdom amended draft regulations for maritime agents. The move is aimed at supporting exporters and the national industrial sector.

Saudi Arabia provided facilities such as reducing the bank guarantee in favor of the port administration by 75%.

The new regulation applies to all marine agents licensed by the Saudi Ports Authority.

More so, the amendments aim to set regulatory rules for governing business activity. It looks to legalize and ensure efficient and high-quality activity; improve transparency in transactions and market regulation; enhance services provided, and support shipping lines to rotate containers quickly.

Additionally, the amendment supports exporters and the national industrial sector by providing containers to meet market demand.

The amendment also stipulates returning containers after unloading the shipment within seven days. Before, agents had a window of 10 days to return emptied containers.

Reducing the duration for returning containers will aid in speeding up their rotation.