Bahrain imports up by 15 percent in March

Bahrain's overall imports soared by 15 per cent last month compared with January and February, a report said.

National origin exports registered an increase of 15 per cent in February compared with January, but remained stable last month, according to the report in the Gulf Daily News, our sister publication.

Re-exports soared by 24 per cent in February compared with January, rising by 3 per cent last month compared with February.

These updated figures were released by the Central Informatics Organisation (CIO) in its quarterly report.

Bahrain imported goods worth BD1.1 billion ($2.9 billion) in the first quarter of this year 68 per cent of which came from top 10 exporting countries.

China topped the list as the volume of Chinese-made goods imported by Bahrain averaged BD156 million, followed by the UAE (BD116 million) and the US BD95 million.

Jeep cars topped Bahrain's imports (BD71 million), followed by private cars (BD49 million) and aluminium dioxide (BD39 million).

Export of Bahraini goods averaged BD537 million of the first three months of this year, according to the CIO quarterly report.

Saudi Arabia was the main destination for Bahraini exports with BD135m, followed by the UAE (BD96 million) and the US (BD70 million). Aluminium wires were the most exported goods (BD74 million), followed by aluminium rods (BD63 million) and iron ore (BD44 million).

Jeep cars were the most re-exported goods (BD27 million), followed by mechanical spare parts (BD12 million) and drilling spare parts (BD10 million).

CIO president Mohammed Al Amer announced that the fourth monthly report would be released mid-next month.