BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, April 22 (Xinhua) -- Brunei lives up to its name as the "Kingdom of Unexpected Treasures," as its pearls, precious or semi-precious stones and precious metals make up the fourth largest export of the country.
Updated data posted earlier this month from the International Trade Centre, the joint agency of the World Trade Organization and the United Nations, showed that the sultanate recorded 29.0 million U.S. dollars in exports of pearls, precious or semi-precious stones and metals last year.
Singapore was the sultanate's largest customer for the category with 21.8 million U.S. dollars. Coins including legal tender also fall under the category. Australia and Switzerland followed with 4.4 million U.S. dollars and 1.5 million U.S. dollars respectively.
Mineral fuels, oils and products were the top export for Brunei last year with a value of 6.1 billion U.S. dollars. This represents approximately 93 percent of the country's total export market.
Organic chemicals was the country's second largest export, totaling 246.2 million U.S. dollars. Of this, 120.3 million U.S dollars' worth was bought by China.
According to the data, Japan is the sultanate's largest buyer, spending 2.3 billion U.S. dollars, or 34.8 percent of the sultanate's export market in 2018.
Meanwhile, Brunei sourced the most goods from China in 2018. It purchased 1.6 billion U.S. dollars' worth of products, or 35.4 percent of the sultanate's imports. This includes 541.7 million U.S. dollars worth of machinery, mechanical appliances and plant or laboratory equipment, among others.
Singapore (879.0 million U.S. dollars) and Malaysia (548.3 million U.S. dollars) were the next largest exporters to Brunei.
