South Korea witnessed a slight upward trend in its vehicle exports to Qatar in 2019, according to the latest data provided by the Embassy of South Korea in Doha.
South Korea’s total exports to Qatar amounted to $357mn in 2019 with vehicles comprising $49mn, or 13.7%, registering a 0.9% year-on-year increase.
Aside from vehicles, other products in South Korea’s top five exports to Qatar included power equipment and materials, amounting to $35mn of the total; ship and marine structure totalling $24mn; construction equipment ($21mn); and engine and pump ($16mn).
Qatar, on the other hand, exported $13.04bn worth of products to South Korea last year with natural gas topping the list at $6.78bn, or 52.0%, of the total export amount. This was followed by crude oil at $4.11bn, petrochemicals ($1.68bn), aluminium ($186mn), and chemical fertiliser ($54mn).
In 2019, Qatar-South Korea total trade volume stood at $13.39bn, according to the South Korean embassy’s first secretary, Jungsik Choi, who noted that “there is no specific trend on both countries’ trade volume in the last three years.”
“Each year’s trade depends on the project carried out by South Korean companies in Qatar. In 2018, the volume of trade was large ($16.82bn) due to the amount of equipment and materials for the power network from South Korea.
“In 2019, Qatar’s export products to South Korea, mainly natural gas, oil, and petrochemicals dropped compared to the previous year’s total amount. Equipment and materials for the construction of power network projects decreased, as well,” Choi told Gulf Times yesterday.
Choi said South Korea’s “promising export products and services to Qatar in 2020” include equipment and material for plant, construction, and ships; medical and beauty products; healthcare services; and 5G contents.
Asked about bilateral projects between Qatar and South Korea, Choi said both countries signed seven memoranda of understanding (MoUs) during
His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani’s visit to South Korea early last year. Choi said five of the seven MoUs were between the Qatar and South Korean governments, while MoUs in the field of smart grid and port co-operation were signed by private sector organisations.
Four MoUs in the fields of smart farm, land transport, fisheries and aquaculture, and training and capacity building between South Korea and the Qatar Customs Authority “were ratified last February,” Choi added.
Earlier, South Korean ambassador Chang-mo Kim told Gulf Times that the MoUs “reflect the growing partnership between Doha and Seoul,” while the visit of His Highness the Amir to South Korea in January 2019 “sets another milestone in the longstanding history of friendship between the two countries.”
He noted that the visit followed a series of high-level exchanges that took place between 2018 and 2019, including visits to Qatar by South Korea’s Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport; the Minister of Commerce, and the Minister of Health, as well as the visit to South Korea by HE the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani.
A ship unloads a number of vehicles at Hamad Port (file). South Korea’s total exports to Qatar amounted to $357mn in 2019 with vehicles comprising $49mn, or 13.7%, registering a 0.9% year-on-year increase.
