Qatar’s private sector exports in May increased by 7% and amounted to QR609.6mn compared to QR572.2mn in April, Qatar Chamber has said in its latest newsletter.
The chemical fertilisers group came first in the private sector exports’ list at QR40mn, recording a sharp increase compared to QR117,000 in April.
The second was helium gas and industrial gas group, with exports amounting to QR130mn in May, an increase of 319% compared to QR31mn in April.
This was followed by chemical substances, which reached QR72mn in May compared to QR53mn in April, an increase of 35%.
Petrochemicals exports reached QR15mn in May compared to QR13mn in April, it said.
On the other hand, there were many commodities that had seen a decrease such as steel exports, which accounted for QR165,000 in May compared to QR10mn in April, a decrease of 98%, followed by paraffin exports, which reached QR28mn in May compared to QR48mn in April, a decrease of 40%.
This was followed by essential and industrial oils, amounting to QR99mn in May compared to QR128mn in April, a decrease of 23%.
In May, India was the “top” destination of Qatar’s private sector exports with nearly QR178mn, which represents a share of 29% of the total exports.
Oman came in second with almost QR98mn and a share of 16%, followed by Turkey with about QR53mn, a share of 9%.
UK came in fourth place with almost QR30mn, a share of 5%, and Norway with about QR29mn, a share of 5%.
The report, prepared by QC’s Research & Studies Department, highlighted the 'Developing Partnership between Public and Private Sectors' conference held last month via video conferencing under the patronage of HE the Minister of Commerce and Industry Ali bin Ahmed al-Kuwari and Qatar Chamber (QC) chairman Sheikh Khalifa bin Jassim al-Thani.
The QC report also included figures from the Planning and Statistics Authority (PSA).
Total value of foreign merchandise trade in May reached QR21.2bn, which increased by 9.8% from QR19.3bn in April.
This indicated that the state’s foreign trade has grown to its normal level before the Covid-19 pandemic, backed by an increase in the value of exports and imports.
In May 2020, the total exports of goods (including exports of goods of domestic origin and re-exports) reached QR13.3bn, an increase of 12.7% compared to QR11.8bn in April, while imports during the same month reached about QR7.9bn, recording an increase of 5.3% compared to QR7.5bn in April.
Therefore, the foreign merchandise trade balance, which represents the difference between total exports and imports, showed a surplus of QR5.4bn, recording an increase of 25.5% compared to QR4.3bn in April.
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