Private sector trade in May 2021 exceeded QR2.57bn, showing a month-on-month (m-o-m) increase of 24.20%, according to Qatar Chamber’s monthly economic newsletter for July.
Prepared by the chamber’s Research & Studies Department, the newsletter stated that Qatar’s private sector’s trade stood at QR2.069bn in April 2021 based on the certificate of origin issued by the chamber. Year-on-year (y-o-y), private sector trade increased by 321% over QR0.609bn recorded in May 2020.



“This increase demonstrated that the national economy has recovered from the repercussions of the coronavirus pandemic and showed that Qatar's private sector has exceeded its pre-pandemic levels,” the newsletter stated.
In May 2021, private sector exports grew by 31.6% compared to QR1.953bn posted in February 2020, which registered the highest value of exports from the beginning of 2020; it increased by 349.3% compared to QR572mn in April 2020, which represented the lowest value during this period.
“The increase in private sector’s exports in May is attributed to the y-o-y increase compared to the same month last year through most of all certificate models except for exports through the GSP model, which decreased by 20.9%,” the newsletter further stated.
Exports through the GCC to Singapore model also recorded a sharp increase of 1,021%, followed by exports through the General model, which increased by 453%, Unified GCC model (444% increase), and exports through the Unified Arab model (48.8% increase).
On a monthly basis, private sector exports in May 2021 through the GSP model and GCC to Singapore model increased by 215% and 175% compared to April. This was followed by the General model, which increased by 32.88%, while exports through the Unified Arab model and Unified GCC decreased by 9.08% and 1.48%, respectively.
According to the type of commodities, the private sector’s exports of essential and industrial oils topped the list of exports, which increased by 184% compared to the previous month, followed by steel, which increased by 17.1%.
On the other hand, exports of other commodities, such as aluminium, industrial gases, lutreine, chemical fertilisers, petrochemicals, paraffin, and chemical substances decreased by 14.7%, 58.7%, 32.3%, 86.3%, 20%, and 10.2%, respectively.
On economic blocs and groupings, EU countries were at the top of economic blocs that received exports of the private sector, which amounted to QR1.045bn with a share of 40.7% of the total value. In second place were Asian countries with a share of 32.6% with exports worth QR838.6mn. The group of GCC states came in third place with exports totalling QR558.4mn, representing 21.7% of the total value, followed by Arab countries in fourth place (excluding GCC states), which received QR76.8mn or a 3% share.
The group of other American countries bloc ranked fifth place with exports worth QR29.3mn (1.1% share), followed by African countries (excluding Arab countries) with exports amounting to QR20.2mn (0.8%), and other European countries, which received exports of QR2.1mn (0.1%).
In May 2021, Germany topped the list of the countries of destination for private sector exports with QR1.006bn or a 39.2% share of the total exports.
This was followed by Oman with QR421.3mn and a share of 16.4%, India (QR325.4mn, 12.7% share), Singapore (QR200.4mn, 7.8%), and Turkey (QR130.1mn, 5.1%). The value of private sector exports to these countries represented 81.2% of the total value of exports during the same month, the newsletter added.
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