In September 2025, Brunei's trade surplus rose to BND 354.3 million, up from BND 339.5 million in the same period the previous year. Despite the increase in surplus, exports showed a decline of 12.1% year-on-year, totaling BND 1.03 billion. This drop was largely due to reduced shipments in key sectors such as mineral fuels (-10.5%), chemicals (-18.3%), and machinery and transport equipment (-24.1%). Major export partners were Australia, accounting for 22.2% of total shipments, followed by China (21.2%), Singapore (16.5%), Japan (9.6%), and Taiwan (8.4%).
Conversely, imports experienced a significant decrease of 18.8%, amounting to BND 670.7 million. This decline was attributed to a diminished demand for mineral fuels (-22.7%), machinery and transport equipment (-17.8%), and miscellaneous manufactured articles (-9.9%). Malaysia continued to be the leading source of imports, making up 27.0%, with Singapore (18.8%), Australia (9.9%), the United Arab Emirates (7.4%), China (5.9%), and the U.S. (3.9%) following.
Over the first nine months of the year, Brunei's trade surplus slightly decreased to BND 3.98 billion from BND 4.04 billion in the previous year. This was due to a 13.1% reduction in exports, while imports saw a more pronounced drop of 19.2%.
