The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Foreign Trade Report for 2023, issued by the Statistical Centre for the Cooperation Council for the Arab Countries of the Gulf (GCC-Stat), highlighted the region’s significant position in global trade.
The GCC ranked sixth globally in the volume of trade in goods index, accounting for 3.4 per cent of the total global trade in goods.
The region’s trade volume reached $1.5tn in 2023, reflecting a 4 per cent decrease compared to 2022.
GCC trade
The GCC also ranked third globally in the merchandise trade balance index in 2023, with a value of $163.7bn, compared to $381.3bn recorded in 2022, which marked a decrease of 57.1 per cent.
In commodity exports, the GCC ranked fifth worldwide, contributing 3.1 per cent of the global total with exports valued at $800bn in 2023, down 14.5 per cent from 2022.
Conversely, the region ranked ninth in total merchandise imports, accounting for 2.7 per cent of global imports at a value of $700bn in 2023, reflecting a 13.4 per cent increase from the previous year.
The report further detailed that GCC trade in goods (excluding intra-trade) decreased by 4 per cent, amounting to $1.482tn in 2023, compared to $1.4824bn in 2023.
Commodity exports fell from $962.6bn in 2022 to $823.1bn in 2023—a decline of $139.5bn or 14.5 per cent. However, commodity imports rose to $659.3bn in 2023, up from $581.3bn in 2022, an increase of $78bn or 13.4 per cent.
Oil exports of the GCC countries decreased by 20.5 per cent in 2023 to reach $525.5bn, compared to $661.1bn in 2022.
As for the main trading partners, the GCC-Stat explained that China ranked first on the list of main trading partners in the commodity trade volume index in 2023.
The value of the commodity trade volume amounted to $297.9bn, surpassing its closest competitor, India, which ranked second with a value of $150.4bn, with a difference of $147.6bn.
China is also the Gulf Cooperation Council countries’ most important trading partner. It ranked first in terms of the commodity exports index by importing 19.2 per cent of the total Gulf commodity exports to global markets in 2023, at a value of $158.3bn compared to $190.4bn in 2022, with a decrease of 16.8 per cent.
China also ranked first among the Gulf bloc countries’ main trading partners in the 2023 Total Merchandise Imports Index.
It exported 21.2 per cent of the GCC’s total merchandise imports in 2023, with a value of $139.6bn compared to $126bn in 2022, recording an increase of 10.8 per cent over the previous year.
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