International trade, sometimes called foreign trade, is the exchange between regions and countries separated by political borders, trade barriers, regulations and laws. This exchange is between countries where certain goods or services are available and other countries lacking such goods or services, thus between an exporting and an importing country.

International trade includes statistics on imports and exports of goods that clearly reflect the trade relations between a particular country and the rest of the world and the development of these relations, which helps in conducting studies in order to boost these relations and ensure growth and prosperity. Oman uses the general trade system to compile and disseminate statistics on goods in foreign trade.

The quarterly Bulletin of International Trade Statistics is published after completion of contract provisions from main sources, namely the General Administration of Customs, the Ministry of Oil and Gas, Oman Refineries and Petroleum Industries and Oman Liquid Natural Gas. The bulletin includes tables of international trade statistics of exports, imports and re-exports of the Sultanate according to various international categories, in addition to the tables of trade between countries and the most important commodities, and another table representing the most important customs ports of the Sultanate; The bulletin includes additional illustrations like graphs, tables etc.