Qatar trade surplus sees a 211% surge in May

In May 2021, China secured the top spot of Qatar’s imports countries, followed by the United States and Germany.

Qatar’s foreign merchandise trade balance has seen a 221% increase in May of 2021, recent statistics by the Planning and Statistics Authority have shown.

The statistics, which reveal the difference between total exports and imports, recorded a surplus of QR16.6bn last month— an increase of around QR11.3bn compared to May of last year.

Compared to April of 2021, the foreign merchandise trade has seen an increase of nearly QR3.8bn, amounting to around 29.9 percent, according to the recent preliminary figures of exports of domestic goods in Qatar.

Meanwhile, the country has also seen an increase of 87.8 percent in May of 2021 in total exports of goods compared to last year, which amounts to around QR24.9bn.

This also records an 18.9 percent increase compared to April 2021.

The imports of goods have also seen a significant surge in the past month that amount to around QR8.3bn. Compared to May 2020, Qatar recorded around a 4.7 percent increase in imports of goods this year, and a 1.7 percent compared to April 2021.

The increase can be attributed to a higher exports of petroleum gases and other gaseous hydrocarbons (LNG, condensates, propane, butane, etc), which reached around QR14bn in May 2021, an increase of 70.1 percent. Meanwhile, petroleum oils & oils from bituminous minerals (crude) reached around QR4bn, recording a 201.5 percent increase.

Last month, China snatched the top rank in the destination of Qatari exports with a QR3.6bn share, amounting to 14.42 percent of the total exports.

Japan follows shortly, with almost QR3.6bn and a share of 14.36 percent. South Korea then comes next with about QR2.8bn, a share of 11.2 percent.

For Qatar’s year on year, the top imported group of commodities was the “Motor Cars & Other Motor Vehicles For The Transport Of Persons,” with QR0.4bn and an increase of 14.4 percent.

“Turbojets, Turbo propellers & Other Gas Turbines; Parts Thereof” then came second, with QR0.3bn, showing a decrease of 66.3 percent.

China was also the top leading country of origin of Qatar’s imports, amounting to around QR1.5bn, a share of 17.5 percent of the imports. The US then followed.

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