Xifres de comerç exterior de Kuwait

Foreign Trade in Figures

Kuwait is highly dependent on foreign trade, which represented 98.1% of the GDP in 2019, the latest World Bank data available. As the fifth largest OPEC oil producer, Kuwait's exports earnings mainly come from mineral fuels, oils and  distillation products (over 89% of total exports and accounting for almost 43% of the GDP). On the other hand, the country depends particularly on imports of food products, consumer goods and semi-finished products. Imports have increased quickly in recent years due to the country’s undertaking of large projects and a high private consumption demand, and for 2020 they were led by motor cars, radio-telephony transmission tools, electronics equipments, medicine and jewellery.

Kuwait exports to a wide number of countries, the main ones being Saudi Arabia (16% of all exports), China (14%), United Arab Emirates (13%), India (12%) and Iraq (9%). Kuwait’s largest suppliers are China (18%), the United States (8.6%), the UAE (8.3%) and Japan with 5.9% (Trading Economics, 2022). Imports from other Gulf countries have increased since joining the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council).

The county’s exports largely depend on its oil output and global oil prices. In 2020, export of goods decreased from 64.4 billion USD in 2019 to 40.1 billion USD in 2020 while imports decreased from 33.5 billion USD in 2019 to 27.7 billion USD in 2020. This figure is low compared to 2013-14, when the country exported more than double this value. Kuwait has a structurally positive trade balance; however, the country is a net importer of services. In 2019, Kuwait's trade balance excluding services was USD 35.3 billion against USD 45.7 billion a year earlier. Kuwait has been recording trade surpluses since 1993 due to shipments of oil. The country recorded a trade surplus of 2649.20 Million KWD (8.76 billion USD) in the second quarter of 2021 (Central Bank of Kuwait, 2022).