A more than doubled export of petroleum gases helped Qatar register almost three-fold year-on-year jump in trade surplus to QR19.2bn in August 2021, according to official estimates.
The rebound in the country's merchandise trade surplus has been enabled by robust expansion in the shipments to Asian countries as well as the UAE during the period in review, said the figures released by the Planning and Statistics Authority.
Nevertheless, Qatar's trade surplus showed a 2% month-on-month decrease in August 2021 as imports were on the rise, while exports declined marginally.
The total exports of goods (including exports of goods of domestic origin and re-exports) were QR27.3bn, showing a stupendous 94.3% surge year-on-year; even as it was down 0.6% month-on-month in the review period.
In August this year, Qatar's shipments to China amounted to QR4.64bn or 17% of the total exports of the country, followed by India QR3.71bn (13.6%), Japan QR3.51bn (12.9%), South Korea QR3.15bn (11.5%) and the UAE QR1.58bn (5.8%).
On a yearly basis, Qatar's exports to the UAE more than quadrupled and those to South Korea more than doubled. In the case of India, China and Japan; the exports from Qatar had jumped 93.43%, 81.36% and 58.44% respectively in the review period.
On a monthly basis, Qatar's exports to South Korea and Japan registered 18.84% and 9.46% decline; whereas shipments to the UAE saw a 54.19% surge, India by 9.99% and China by 6.98% in August 2021.
The exports of petroleum gases and other gaseous hydrocarbons shot up 118.2% to QR16.72bn, non-crude by 87% to QR2.52bn, crude by 67.4% to QR4.03bn and other commodities by 65% to QR3.16bn.
On a monthly basis, the exports of non-crude shrank 12.7%, crude by 9.3% and non-crude by 4.2%; whereas those of petroleum gases and other gaseous hydrocarbons expanded 4.1% in August 2021.
Petroleum gases constituted 63.26% of the exports of domestic products in August 2021 compared to 57.42% a year ago period, followed by crude 15.25% (18.07%), non-crude 9.53% (10.12%) and other commodities 11.96% (14.39%).
Qatar's total imports (valued at cost insurance and freight) amounted to QR8.1bn, which showed 13.6% and 2.9% increase year-on-year and month-on-month in August 2021.
The country's imports from China stood at QR1.39bn, which accounted for 17.2% of the total imports; followed by the US at QR0.93bn (11.5%), India QR0.64bn (7.9%), Germany QR0.54bn (6.7%) and Italy QR0.4bn (5%).
On a yearly basis, Qatar's imports from India saw a 57.82% growth in August this year, China 47.67%, Germany 40.73% and Italy 16.52%; while those from the US shrank 42.25%.
On a monthly basis, the country's imports from India grew 29.27%, Italy 7.77%, China 6.41%, Germany 3.65% and the US 3.46% in the review period.
In August this year, the imports of motor cars and other motor vehicles amounted to QR0.39bn; turbojets and turbojet propellers QR0.36bn; parts of aeroplanes or helicopters QR0.25bn and other non-specified commodities at QR7.1bn.
The country's re-exports amounted to QR0.86bn, which strengthened 21.2% and 12.6% year-on-year and month-on-month in August 2021.
In its latest World Investment Report, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development noted Qatar's “normalisation of relations with the three Gulf Co-operation Council members will improve investment prospects for Qatar specifically and likely to boost intraregional flows.”