Monthly Economic Newsletter | March 2021
Qatar Foreign Trade (January 2021)
Trade Balance
According to the figures of The Planning and Statistics Authority for January 2021, the total value of foreign merchandise trade amounted to QR 29.1 billion, showing an increase of 13.7 % compared to QR 25.6 billion in December 2020.
In January 2021, the total exports of goods (including exports of goods of domestic origin and re-exports) amounted to around QR 21.3 billion, showing an increase of 24.6 percent compared to QR 17.7 billion in December.
The imports of goods in January 2021 amounted to around QR 7.8 billion, showing a decrease of 8.2 percent compared to QR 8.5 billion in December.
Therefore, the country’s foreign merchandise trade balance, which represents the difference between total exports and imports, showed a surplus of QR 13.5 billion almost, recording an increase of 57 percent compared to QR 8.6 billion in December.
Table (1) Trade balance for December 2020 & January 2021 (Value in QR billion)
Major Trade Partners According to Foreign Trade – January 2021
In January 2021, China was at the top of the countries of destination of Qatar’s foreign trade with about QR 5.7 billion, a share of 19.6 percent of the state’s total foreign trade.
Major Trade Partners According to Exports- January 2021
In January 2021, China was at the top of the countries of destination of Qatar’s exports with close to QR 4.6 billion, a share of 21.5 percent of total exports, followed by Japan with almost QR 3.595 billion and a share of 16.9 percent and South Korea with about QR 3.165 billion, a share of 14.9 percent.
India comes in the fourth place with almost QR 2.583 billion, a share of 12.1 % and Singapore with about QR 1.203 billion, a share of 5.6 percent.
These five countries received approximately 71.02 percent of the total value of Qatari exports during the said month.
Table (2): Total exports by Major Countries of Destination- December 2020
Graph (1): Major Trade Partners According to Value of Exports – January 2021
Value of exports in billion
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Total exports by Major Countries of Destination-August 2020
Share (%) in total
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Table (3): Main Groups of Commodities Exported - January 2021
Imports by Major Countries of Destination -January 2021
In January 2021, China was the leading country of origin for Qatar’s imports with about QR 1.111 billion, a share of 14.2 percent of the imports amounted to QR 7.8 billion, followed by the USA with QR 1.012 billion almost, a share of 13 percent, and UK with QR 0.622 billion, a share of 8 percent.
India comes in the fourth place with about QR 0.510 billion, a share of 6.5 percent, followed by Germany with QR 0.428 billion, a share of 5.6 percent of the total value.
The imports of these five countries represented 47.3 percent of the total value of imports during the mentioned month.
Table (4): Imports by Major Countries of Destination- January 2021
Graph (3A): Imports by Major Trade Partners -January 2021
Value of Imports in billion
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Graph (3B): Imports by Major Trade Partners share (%) in total - January 2021
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Table (5): Main Groups of Commodities Imported – January 2021
Exports of the private sector – January 2021
- The exports of private sector in January reached QR 1.499 billion, showing a month-on-month increase of 12.5 percent compared to QR 1.333 billion in December 2020.
- This increase in the private sector’s exports is attributed to the increase of 20.1 percent in exports through the General Model certificate which increased by QR 160 million.
- Exports through Unified GCC to Singapore model also recorded a sharp increase of 966 percent (from QR 12 million to QR 129 million), exports through the Unified Arab Model increased by 15 percent, and exports through GSP Model certificate which increased by 7.1 percent.
- Exports through GCC Model certificate decreased by 32.9 percent.
Table (6) Exports of the private sector according to the type of certificate of origin (December 2020, January 2021)
(Value in million riyals)
Graph (4) Private sector’s exports according to the type of certificate of origin (December 2020, January 2021)
(Value in million riyals)
No Data Found
- Data of the private sector’s exports emphasized the ability of the private sector and the Qatari economy in general to overcome the repercussions of the Covid-19 pandemic.
- In January 2021, the exports of private sector clocked the highest increase rate within the past nine months since April which witnessed the lowest volume of exports due to the precautionary measures of Covid-19. The value of private sector exports in January grew by 162 percent compared to April, while it decreased by 23 percent compared to February 2020 in which exports registered the highest level.
Graph (5) Private sector exports from January 2020 to January 2021: (Value in billion)
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Exports of the private sector according to the type of commodities
Table (7) Exports of private sector according to commodities (December2020, January 2021)
Graph (6) Relative weights of the private sector's export commodities – January 2021
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Data of table (7) and Graph (6), indicate that:
- In January, the private sector’s exports of steel topped the list of exports with exports amounted to QR 132 million, a sharp increase of 5,000 percent compared to QR 3 million in December.
- It is followed by chemical substances which increased by 62.2% and chemical substances which increased by 23.9 percent, latrine which increased by 4.8 percent and aluminum which increased by 11.2 percent.
- On the other hand, exports of other commodities such as petrochemical, paraffin, essential oils and industrial gases decreased by 28.1 percent, 8.6 percent, 3.5 percent, and 1.9 percent respectively.
Exports of the private sector as per major destinations – January 2021:
Table (8) Exports by major trade partners – January 2021
Graph (7) Major trade partners of the private sector’s exports – January 2021
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In January 2021, India was at the top of the countries of destination of private sector’s exports with close to QR 309 million, a share of 20.6 percent of the total exports.
It is followed by Oman with almost QR 207 million and a share of 13.8 percent and Netherlands with about QR 135 million, a share of 9 percent.
Singapore came in fourth place with almost QR 129 million, a share of 8.6 percent and Hong Kong with about QR 112 million, a share of 7.5 percent.
The private sector exports to these countries represented 59.5 percent of the total value of exports during the same month.
Destinations of the private sector’s exports in terms of the economic blocs
Table (9) Destinations of the private sector exports as per economic blocs and groupings -January 2021
Graph (8) Exports of the private sector according to economic blocs & groupings – January 2021
No Data Found
As for economic blocs and groupings, Asian countries were at the top of economic blocs that received exports of private sector amounted to QR 891 million with a share of 59.4 percent of the total value, followed by GCC states with a share of 28.8 percent with exports of QR 258 million.
In third place came the group of EU states, with exports totaling QR 217 million representing 14.5 percent of the total value, followed by Arab countries excluding GCC states that received 68 million, a share of 4.5 percent and the USA with exports amounted to 46 million, a share of 3.1 percent.
The group of Other European countries came in the sixth place with exports amounted to QR 8.9 million, a share of 0.60 percent, followed by African countries (excluding Arab states) with exports amounted to QR 8.5 million, a share of 0.57 percent and Other American countries which received exports of values 0.07 percent.
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