DUBAI - The value of Saudi Arabia's oil exports in April climbed 109% to 51.7 billion riyals ($13.79 billion) from a year earlier while non-oil exports rose by 46.3%, official data showed on Thursday.

Oil exports made up 72.5% of total exports, up from 64.8% in April 2020 and 70% in March.

Non-oil exports rose to 19.6 billion riyals from 13.4 billion but slipped from 22.5 billion riyals in March, the data from the General Authority for Statistics showed.

Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter, suffered last year as the COVID-19 pandemic hit energy demand and its state coffers as a result.

China remained Saudi Arabia's main trading partner in April, with Saudi exports rising to 12.9 billion riyals from 7 billion a year earlier.

Saudi imports from China rose to 9.2 billion riyals from 8 billion, the data showed.

The kingdom's total export value in April rose to 71.3 billion riyals from 38.1 billion but were down from 74.8 billion in March.

Imports from Turkey fell to 41.2 million riyals from 1.1 billion after an informal blockade by Saudi Arabia.  

($1 = 3.7500 riyals)

(Reporting by Yousef Saba; editing by Jason Neely) ((Yousef.Saba@thomsonreuters.com; +971562166204; https://twitter.com/YousefSaba))