Qatar Chamber has issued its monthly economic newsletter for November which highlighted the most prominent trends in the Qatari economy, as well as statistics related to foreign trade and trade of private sector in September according to the certificates of origin issued by the Chamber.

The newsletter, prepared by QC’s Research & Studies Department, highlighted a report about exports of the private sector in September 2021.

The newsletter said that exports of the private sector in September as per certificates of origin issued by the Chamber stood at QAR4.98 billion, showing a month-to-month increase of 164% compared to QAR1.89 billion in August, while on a year-to-year basis, it recorded a sharp increase of 350% compared to QAR1.09 billion as in September 2020.

The report said that the total value of private-sector exports within the first nine months of the current year amounted to QAR20.9 billion compared to QAR11.1 billion in the same period last year, showing an increase of 88%.

The increase of private-sector exports in September increased by 155% compared to QAR1.954 billion in February 2020, which represented the highest value of exports when imposing precautionary measures at the beginning of the pandemic, and an increase of 771% compared to QAR572 million in April 2020, which witnessed the lowest value of exports.

This growth of private sector exports in September 2021 on a month-to-month base is attributed to the increase in exports through the Unified GCC Model which increased by 774% from QAR383 mn in August to QAR3.3 bn in September, while on a year-to-year basis it amounted to QAR208 mn in the same month last year, an increase of increased by 1,500%.

Exports through the GPS Model increased by 669% on month-to-month basis, while they decreased by 5% on year-to-year basis.

Exports through the General Model decreased by 14% on a month-to-month basis, while they increased by 143% on a year-to-year basis.

Exports through the Unified Arab Model grew by 35% on a month-to-month basis, and an increase of 48% on a year-to-year basis.

Exports through the Unified Model to Singapore amounted to QAR70 mn, while there are no exports through this model registered in September 2020 or during the last month.

Exports according to the type of accommodation

In September 2021, the private sector’s exports of Essential and Industrial Oils exports increased sharply by 565% on a month-to-month basis and by 1,084% on a year-to-year basis.

Aluminum exports decreased by 52.9% on a month-to-month basis, and by 25.4% on a year-to-year basis.

Chemical substances exports decreased by 44% on a month-to-month basis, while they grew by 97.7% on a year-to-year basis.

Lotrene exports increased by 26% on a month-to-month basis and by 113.8% on a year-to-year basis.

Chemical fertilisers exports amounted to QAR106.46 mn in September, while there are no exports registered in August 2021 or September 2020.

Paraffin exports grew by 124.4% on a month-to-month basis and 4.8% on a year-to-year basis.

Industrial Gases exports sharply decreased by 83.9% on a month-to-month basis and by 73.6% on a year-to-year basis.

Also, petrochemicals decreased by 24.3% on a month-to-month basis, while they increased by 35.4% on a year-to-year basis.

Steel exports increased by 511% on a month-to-month basis and by 81.2% on a year-to-year basis.

Overall, the total value of private-sector exports grew by 183.8% on a month-to-month basis and by 309.6% on a year-to-year basis.

Private Sector Partners

As for economic blocs and groupings, GCC states were at the top of economic blocs that received exports of private sector amounted to QAR3.4 billion with a share of 67.4% of the total value, followed by Asian countries excluding GCC states with a share of 25.4% with exports of QAR1.26 billion.

In third place came the group of EU states, with exports totaling QAR221.2 million representing 4.45% of the total value, followed by Arab countries excluding GCC states that received 109.1 million, a share of 2.19% and African Countries Group excluding Arab countries with exports amounted to QAR24 million, or a share of 0.48% of the total exports.

Other American Countries came in sixth place with exports amounted to 3.12 million, or a share of 0.06%, followed by Other European Countries Group which received exports worth QAR2.67 million, a share of 0.05%, US which received exports worth QAR0.88 mn, or a share of 0.02% and Oceania which received exports worth of QAR0.37 mn, or a share of 0. 01%.

In September 2021, Oman was at the top of the countries of destination of private-sector exports with close to QAR3.28 billion, a share of 66% of the total exports.

It is followed by Turkey with almost QAR386.81 million and a share of 7.8% and India with about QAR383.42 million, a share of 7.7%.

Singapore came in fourth place with almost QAR198.47 million, a share of 4% and Germany with exports amounted to about QAR188.14 million, a share of 3.8%.

The value of private-sector exports to these countries represented 89.2% of the total value of exports during the same month.

Foreign Trade

The QC newsletter said that according to the figures given by The Planning and Statistics Authority for September, the total value of foreign merchandise trade amounted to QAR 36.8 bn, showing an increase of 4.1%compared to QAR35.4 bn in August, while on a year-on-year basis, it increased by 80.4% compared to QAR 20.4 bn in September 2020.

In September, the total exports of goods (including exports of goods of domestic origin and re-exports) amounted to around QAR28.1 bn, showing a sharp increase of 109% compared to QAR13.4 bn in September last year and an increase of 2.8% compared to QAR27.3 bn in August 2021.

The imports of goods in the said month amounted to around QAR8.8 billion, showing an increase of 8.5% compared to QAR8.1 bn in August, and an increase of 25.7% on a year-to-year basis.

Therefore, the country’s foreign merchandise trade balance, which represents the difference between total exports and imports, amounted to QAR19.3 bn, showing an increase of 199.1% compared to QAR6.4 bn in September 2020, while on a month-to-month base it slightly increased by 0.31%.

In September, China was at the top of the countries of destination of Qatar’s foreign trade with about QAR5.8 billion, a share of 15.8% of the state’s total foreign trade.

More information on Qatar’s business sector available on Marhaba’s e-Guides.