Oman merchandise exports dip 28%

Muscat: Oman’s merchandise exports during the first five months of 2016 saw a 28.4 per cent year-on-year drop at OMR4.02 billion while imports fell by 23.4 per cent to OMR3.46 billion, according to the latest statistical bulletin issued by the National Centre for Statistics & Information (NCSI).
Oil and gas exports declined by 37.5 per cent to OMR2.14 billion while non-oil exports tanked by 24.9 per cent to OMR985.3 million. Crude oil fell by 38.2 per cent to OMR1.79 billion, even as refined oil and LNG exports dipped by 16.9 per cent and 35.5 per cent to OMR48.1 million and OMR301.4 million respectively.
Among non-oil products, the greatest decline in exports was recorded in plastics and rubber followed by base metals and articles, which went down by 50 per cent (to OMR52.1 million) and 35.2 per cent (to OMR186 million) respectively.
Re-exports on the other hand registered a 1.5 per cent growth during the period, boosting export value to OMR892.6 million. This was mainly driven by a whopping 463 per cent increase in re-exports of mineral products, which reached OMR282.4 million compared to OMR50.2 million last year. This was however greatly offset by a 30.8 per cent drop in re-exports of transport equipment, which fell to OMR458.2 million.
As for imports, transport equipment and chemical products logged the highest decrease in import figures, which stood at OMR372.8 million and OMR259.7 million respectively marking a drop of 56.2 per cent and 42.5 per cent, the NCSI report said.