Qatar reported a trade surplus of QR13.12bn in April 2019 with the bulk of the exports (more than 66%) going to Asia, according to the official estimates.

The country's trade surplus registered a marginal 0.4% decline on a monthly basis and 11.3% fall year-on-year, said the figures released by the Planning and Statistics Authority.

In absolute terms, South Korea, Japan, India, Singapore and China were among the largest export markets of Qatar; while imports mainly came from the US, China, India, Germany and the UK in the period under review.

In April, total exports of goods (including exports of goods of domestic origin and re-exports) amounted to QR22.13bn, showing a decline of 2.8% and 7.8% on monthly and yearly basis respectively.

The exports of petroleum gases and other gaseous hydrocarbons grew 2.6% month-on-month to QR13.87bn, while those of non-crude declined 11.5% to QR1.26bn, other commodities by 11.4% to QR2.31bn and crude by 1.9% to QR3.76bn.

On a yearly basis, shipments of non-crude plummeted 40.7%, other commodities 20.1%, crude 4.6% and petroleum gases 2.1%.

Petroleum gases constituted 65.42% of the exports of domestic products compared to 61.29% a year ago period, crude 17.73% (17.04%), non-crude 5.94% (9.17%) and other commodities 10.9% (12.5%).

In April this year, Qatar's shipments to South Korea stood at QR4bn, thus accounting for 18.1% of the total exports, Japan QR3.45bn (15.6%), India QR2.68bn (12.1%), Singapore QR2.67bn (12.1%) and China QR1.85bn (8.3%).

On a monthly basis, Qatar's exports to Singapore registered a healthy 34.17% growth, South Korea 25.79% and India 1.9%; whereas those to Japan declined 24.18% and China 11.48.

On a yearly basis, Doha's exports to Singapore swelled 51.7%, India 23.5% and South Korea 2.2%; while those to China tanked 27.73% and Japan 26.6%.

The country's re-exports amounted to QR0.93bn in April, which showed 33.1% shrinkage against March 2019 but reported a 4.4% jump on a yearly basis.

Qatar's total imports (valued at cost insurance and freight) amounted to QR9.01bn, which showed a 6.1% and 2.3% decline on a monthly and yearly basis respectively in April 2019.

In April this year, the US was the leading country of origin of Qatar's imports worth QR1.88bn – a share of 20.9% of the total, China QR0.97bn (10.8%), India QR0.7bn (7.7%), Germany QR0.45bn (5%) and the UK QR0.43bn (4.7%).

On a monthly basis, Qatar's imports from India had risen 32.32% and China 3.63%; whereas those from Germany shrank 25.66%, the US 14.49% and the UK 13.39%.

On a yearly basis, the country's imports from the US soared 94.42%; while those from Germany fell 18.71%, India 12.78%, the UK 3.83% and China 2.22%.

During April, imports of parts of aircraft amounted to QR0.45bn, motor cars and other vehicles for transportation QR0.36bn, turbojets and turbo propellers QR0.35bn and other commodities QR7.86bn.