Brunei's crude oil exports fall 34% in November 2013

Brunei's crude oil exports fell 34 percent in November 2013 year on year, according to statistics from the Department of Economic Planning and Development on Wednesday. Figures from the recently released International Merchandise Trade Statistics (IMTS) showed that Brunei's crude oil exports in November 2013 were valued at 408.7 million Brunei dollars (about 330 million U.S. dollars), down from 623.6 million Brunei dollars (about 503 U.S. dollars) in November 2012. The drop in crude oil exports weighed heavily on total exports which, decreased 11.8 percent to 1.112 billion Brunei dollars ( about 0.897 billion U.S. dollars) in November 2013 from 1.260 billion Brunei dollars (about 1.02 billion U.S. dollars) in November 2012. Other significant decreases were also recorded in exports of chemicals which dropped 98.3 percent from the previous year, and in exports of miscellaneous manufactured articles which fell 53.8 percent in the same period in 2012. On a year-to-date basis from January to November, the overall trade balance had decreased by 15.1 percent to 9.05 billion Brunei dollars (about 7.3 billion U.S. dollars)in 2013 from 10.66 billion Brunei dollars (about 8.60 billion U.S. dollars) in the same period in 2012.