China, Saudi Arabia share close economic ties

China and Saudi Arabia have a close economic ties. Saudi Arabia is China’s largest trade partner in the Arabic area, with oil as the backbone of the relationship.

It is also one of China's major investment destinations. Bilateral trade between China and Saudi Arabia hit a total of 47.6 billion dollars from January to December 2015.

In the breakdown, China's exports to Saudi Arabia totalled 19.7 billion dollars, up 6.4 percent from the previous year.

Saudi Arabia is China's largest source of oil imports in the Middle East. China imported from it  a total of 46 million tons of crude oil in the first eleven months of 2015, that’s up 2 percent from the same period of 2014.

China’s total investment to Saudi Arabia hit almost 2-and-a-half billion US dollars in 2014. Saudi Arabia’s investment to China meanwhile amounted 1.24 billion dollars.