Defiant Qatar’s Trade Surplus Records 45.3% Jump

As the unjust blockade imposed on Qatar by the siege countries, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt, enters its sordid anniversary, Qatar continued to display its prowess on international trade.

The preliminary trade figures for March released by the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics Saturday showed Qatar’s trade surplus jumped by 45.3% to QR13.4 billion ($3.68 billion) in March 2018, registering an increase of about QR4.2 billion on year-on-year, though slipped by 5% from the previous month, Arabian Business reported.

The year-on-year increase in total exports was mainly due to higher exports of petroleum gases and other gaseous hydrocarbons (LNG, condensates, propane, butane, etc) that reached approximately QR14.9 billion in March 2018, an increase of 31.7%. Petroleum oils and oils from bituminous minerals (crude) reached QR3.8 billion, up 15.2% compared to the same period in 2017, the preliminary figures released by the MDPS noted.

In March 2018, the total exports of goods (including exports of goods of domestic origin and reexports) amounted to around QR23.9 billion, an increase of 22% compared to March 2017, and reported a 6.7% month-on-month increase.

On other hand, the imports of goods in March 2018 amounted to around QR10.5 billion, showing an increase of 1.3% over March 2017. However, on a month-on-month basis the imports increased by 26.4%.

In March, South Korea was at the top of the countries of destination of Qatar’s exports with close to QR 4.4 billion, a share of 18.5% of total exports, followed by Japan with almost QR4 billion (16.6%), India with about QR2.8 billion (11.7%).

The “motor cars & other passenger vehicles” group was at the top of the imported group of commodities, with QR0.5 billion, showing a decrease of 30.4% compared to March 2017. It was followed by “turbojets, turbo propellers & other gas turbines” with a value of QR0.4 billion, an increase of 58.7%. “Aircraft/space craft parts” group imports witnessed a 12.8% increase at QR0.3 billion.

In March 2018, the US was the leading country of origin of Qatar’s imports with about QR2.0 billion, a share of 19.2% of the imports, followed by China with QR1.5 billion, a share of 14%, and India with QR0.7 billion, a share of 6.2%.