Qatar Chamber (QC) recently released its monthly economic newsletter for October which highlighted the most prominent trends in the Qatari economy for the month of August, as well as the statistics related to foreign trade and trade of private sector, according to certificates of origin issued by Qatar Chamber.
According to the newsletter, exports of the private sector in August as per certificates of origin issued stood at QAR1.9 billion, showing a month-to-month increase of 10% compared to QAR1.7 billion in July; while on a year-to-year basis, it grew by over 100% compared to QAR929 million in August last year.
Exports
In August 2021, the private sector aluminium exports increased by 29% on a month-to-month basis and by 37% on a year-to-year basis.
Essential oils decreased by 7% on a month-to-month basis, while increasing by 107% on a year-to-year basis. Industrial gases exports increased by 105% on a month-to-month basis and by 776% on a year-to-year basis. Similarly, chemical substances increased sharply by 275% on a month-to-month basis and by 442% on a year-to-year basis.
Lotrene exports decreased by 3% on a month-to-month basis, while increasing by 110% on a year-to-year basis. Petrochemical exports decreased by 10% on a month-to-month basis, while they increased by 201% on a year-to-year basis.
Paraffin exports decreased by 65% on a month-to-month basis and by 8% on a year-to-year basis. Steel exports decreased by 34% on a month-to-month basis and by 71% on a year-to-year basis. No chemical fertilizer export was registered in August.
Private Sector Partners
As for economic blocs and groupings, Asian countries not including the GCC states received the bulk of exports from the private sector, which amounted to QAR872 million, a share of 46.3% of the total value. This was followed by the EU states with a share of 25.2% and exports equivalent to QAR474 million.
In third place is the group of GCC states, with exports totalling QAR435 million representing 23.1% of the total value, followed by Arab countries (excluding the GCC states) that received QAR72 million, a share of 3.8% and the African Countries Group (excluding the Arab countries) with exports amounting to QAR30 million or a share of 1.6% of the total exports.
Other American Countries came in sixth place with exports amounting to QAR1.1 million, or a share of 0.06%, followed by the Other European Countries Group which received exports worth QAR1.05 million. USA and Oceania registered no exports in August.
India was the top destination of private-sector exports in August 2021, with close to QAR524 million, a share of 27.8% of the total exports. It was followed by Oman with almost QAR220 million and a share of 11.7% and The Netherlands with about QAR184 million, a share of 9.7%. China came in fourth place with almost QAR178 million, a share of 9.5% and Germany with exports amounting to about QAR163 million, a share of 8.7%.
The value of private-sector exports to these countries represented 67.3% of the total value of exports during the same month.
Foreign Trade
According to figures by the Planning and Statistics Authority for August, the total value of foreign merchandise trade amounted to QAR35.4 billion, a significant increase of 67.2% compared to QAR21.2 billion in August last year and an increase of 0.2% compared to QAR35.3 billion from the previous month.
In August, the total export of goods (including exports of goods of domestic origin and re-exports) amounted to around QAR27.3 billion, showing a sharp increase of 94.3% compared to QAR14.1 billion in August last year and an increase of 0.6% compared to QAR27.5 billion in July 2021.
The import of goods in the said month amounted to around QAR8.1 billion, a growth of 2.9% compared to QAR7.1 billion in July and a growth of 13.6% on a year-to-year basis.
The country’s foreign merchandise trade balance, which represents the difference between total exports and imports, amounted to QAR19.2 billion, showing a surplus of QAR12.277 billion, an increase of 177.4% compared to QAR6.9 billion in August 2020, while on a month-to-month basis, it decreased by 2.02%.
In August, China was the top destination of Qatar’s foreign trade with about QAR6 billion, a share of 17.05% of the state’s total foreign trade.
More information on Qatar’s business sector available on Marhaba’s e-Guides.
