Monthly Economic Newsletter | November 2020

Qatar’s Foreign Trade (September 2020)

Trade Balance

Table (1) Trade balance for August & September 2020 (Value in QR billion)

According to the figures given by The Planning and Statistics Authority for September 2020, the total the value of foreign merchandise trade statistics amounted to QR 20.4 billion, showing a slight decrease of 7.2 % compared to August 2020, which amounted to QR 21.1 billion.

In September 2020, the total exports of goods (including exports of goods of domestic origin and re-exports) amounted to around QR 13.4 billion, showing a decrease of 4.3 % compared to QR 14 billion in August.

The imports of goods in September 2020 amounted to around QR7 billion, showing a decrease of 1.4 % compared to QR 7.1 billion in August.

Therefore, the country’s foreign merchandise trade balance, which represents the difference between total exports and imports, showed a surplus of QR 6.4 billion almost, a decrease of 7.2% compared to QR 6.9 billion in August.

Major Trade Partners According to Foreign Trade- September 2020
In September 2020, China was at the top of the countries of destination of Qatar’s foreign trade with about QR 3.6 billion, a share of 17.6 percent of the state’s total foreign trade.

Major Trade Partners According to Exports- September 2020
In September 2020, India was at the top of the countries of destination of Qatar’s exports with close to QR 2.4 billion, a share of 18 percent of total exports, followed by China with almost QR 2.1 billion and a share of 15.4 percent, Japan with about QR 1.7 billion, a share of 12.9 percent.

South Korea comes in the fourth place with almost QR 1.4 billion, a share of 10.7 % and Singapore with about QR 0,821 billion, a share of 6.1%.

Table (2): Total exports by Major Countries of Destination-August 2020

Total exports by Major Countries of Destination-August 2020

Value of exports in billion

Total exports by Major Countries of Destination-August 2020

Share (%) in total

Table (3): Main Groups of Commodities Exported -August 2020

Imports by Major Countries of Destination -September 2020

In September 2020, China was the leading country of origin for Qatar’s imports with about QR1.6 billion, a share of 22.2 percent of the imports amounted to QR 7.1 billion, followed by the United State of America with QR 0.747 billion almost, a share of 10.7 percent, and India with QR 0.412 billion, a share of 5.9 percent.

Germany comes in the fourth place with about QR 0.406 billion, a share of 5.8%, followed by UK with QR 0.400 billion, a share of 5.7% of the total value.

Table (4): Imports by Major Countries of Destination- September 2020

Graph (3): Imports by Major Trade Partners total-September 2020

Value of Imports in billion

Graph (3): Imports by Major Trade Partners share (%) total-September 2020

Table (5): Main Groups of Commodities Imported – August 2020

Private Sector Exports

Table (6) Exports of the private sector according to the type of certificate of origin

Graph (4) Private sector’s exports according to the type of certificate of origin

(Value in million riyals)

Data refer that the exports of private sector in September started to rebound following the decrease in August.
Private sector’s exports in September amounted to QR 1 billion, showing an increase of 17% compared to August, and increase of 91% compared to April 2020 which represented the lowest month in the year.
Exports through GSP model certificate of origin have the largest value in September, increasing 128% m-o-m compared to August 2020, followed by exports through the Unified Arab model by 18% and Unified GCC model by 4%.
There were no goods exported through the Unified GCC certificate of origin for exporting to Singapore, while exports through the General Model decreased by 9%.

Graph (5) Private sector exports from January to September 2020 (Value in billion)

Exports of the private sector according to the type of commodities

Table (7) Exports of private sector according to commodities (August & September 2020)

Value in million riyals

Private sector's export commodities - September 2020

Graph (6) Relative weights of the private sector's export commodities - September 2020

Data of table (7), indicate that:

The nine commodities, represented the 98% of the total volume of private sector exports during September, amounted to 1 billion, an increase of 20% compared to 889 million in August.
Private sector’s exports of Helium gas & industrial gas have seen a sharp increase of 434% from QR 33 million in August to QR 176 million in September, followed by Paraffin which increased by 96% from QR 40 million in August and petrochemicals with exports amounted to QR 50 million in August compared to QR 77 million in September, an increase of 96%.
Exports of chemical substances recorded an increase of 53% from QR 50 million in August to QR 77 million in September.
Followed by lutreine which increased by 24% from 53 million to 65 million and essential oils which increased from 258 million to 300 million.

Exports of the private sector as per major destinations – September 2020:

Table (8) Exports by major trade partners - September 2020

Graph (7) Major trade partners of the private sector’s exports – September 2020

In September 2020, India was at the top of the countries of destination of private sector’s exports with close to QR 274 million, a share of 25.2 percent of the total exports. It was followed by Oman with almost QR 193 million and a share of 17.7 percent, Sweden with about QR 120 million, a share of 11 percent.

Turkey came in fourth place with almost QR 116 million, a share of 10.6 percent and France with about QR 105, a share of 9.7 percent.

These seven countries received 74.1 percent of the total value of private sector exports in September.

Destinations of the private sector’s exports in terms of the economic blocs

Destinations of the private sector exports as per economic blocs and groupings -September 2020

Value of Imports in billion

Graph (8) Exports of the private sector according to economic blocs & groupings – September 2020

At the level of blocs and groupings, Asian countries were at the top of economic blocs that received exports of private sector with a share of 47 % of the total value, amounted to QR 515 million, followed by EU states with a share of 22.2% with exports of QR 270 million.

In third place came the group of GCC states, with exports totaling QR 212 million representing 19.4% of the total value, followed by Arab countries excluding GCC states that received 69 million, a share of 6.3 percent and African Countries excluding Arab countries with exports amounted to 20 million, a share of 1.8 percent.

The group of other European countries, other American countries and the USA which received exports of values 0.37%, 0.06% and 0.1% respectively.

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