Qatar Chamber: Private Sector Exports Exceed Pre-Pandemic Levels

Monthly economic newsletter, Qatar Chamber

QNA

Qatar Chamber has issued its monthly economic newsletter for July which highlighted the most prominent trends in the Qatari economy, as well as statistics related to foreign trade and trade of private sector in May 2021 according to certificates of origin issued by the Chamber.

The newsletter said that according to the figures given by The Planning and Statistics Authority for May 2021, the total value of foreign merchandise trade amounted to QR 33.2 billion, showing an increase of 14.1 percent compared to April which amounted to QR 29.1 billion. In May 2021, the total exports of goods (including exports of goods of domestic origin and re-exports) amounted to around QR 24.9 billion, showing an increase of 19.1 percent compared to QR 20.9 billion in April. The imports of goods in in the said month amounted to around QR 8.3 billion, showing a slight growth of 1.2 percent compared to QR 8.2 billion in April.

Therefore, the countrys foreign merchandise trade balance, which represents the difference between total exports and imports, showed a surplus of QR 16.6 billion, an increase of 29.9 percent compared to QR 12.8 billion in April.

In May 2021, China was at the top of the countries of destination of Qatars foreign trade with about QR 5 billion, a share of 15.1 percent of the states total foreign trade.

The newsletter also featured the trade of private sector in May according to the certificate of origin issued by the Chamber which exceeded QR 2.57 billion, showing a month-on-month increase of 24.20 percent compared to QR 2.069 billion in the previous month, while on a year-on-year basis it increased by 321 percent compared to QR 0.609 billion as in May 2020.

This increase demonstrated that the national economy has recovered from the repercussions of the coronavirus pandemic and showed that the Qatar's private sector has exceeded its pre-pandemic levels. In May, private sector exports grew by 31.6 percent compared to QR 1.953 billion in February 2020, which registered the highest value of exports from the beginning of 2020, while it increased by 349.3 percent compared to QR 572 million in April 2020, which represented the lowest value during this period.

The increase in private sectors exports in May is attributed to the year-on-year increase compared to the same month last year through most of all certificate models except for exports through the GSP Model which decreased by 20.9 percent. Exports through GCC to Singapore model also recorded a sharp increase of 1021 percent, followed by exports through the General Model which increased by 453 percent, Unified GCC model which increased by 444 percent, and exports through the Unified Arab model which increased by 48.8 percent.

On a monthly basis, exports of private sector in May 2021 through the GSP Model and GCC to Singapore model increased by 215 percent and 175 percent compared to April 2021, followed by the General Model which increased by 32.88 percent. While exports through the Unified Arab model and Unified GCC decreased by 9.08 and 1.48 percent respectively. 

The report added that, according to the type of commodities, the private sectors exports of essential and industrial oils topped the list of exports which increased by 184 percent compared to the previous month, followed by steel which increased by 17.1 percent.

On the other hand, exports of other commodities such as aluminum, industrial gases, lutreine, chemical fertilizers, petrochemicals, paraffin, and chemical substances decreased by 14.7 percent, 58.7 percent, 32.3 percent, 86.3 percent, 20 percent and 10.2 respectively.

As for the biggest trading partners, EU countries were at the top of economic blocs that received exports of private sector amounted to QR 1045.3 million with a share of 40.7 percent of the total value, followed by Asian countries with a share of 32.6 percent with exports of QR 838.6 million. In third place came the group of GCC states, with exports totaling QR 558.4 million representing 21.7 percent of the total value, followed by Arab countries excluding GCC states that received 76.8 million, a share of 3 percent. The group of Other American Countries bloc came in the fifth place with exports amounted to QR 29.3 million, a share of 1.1 percent, followed by African Countries excluding Arab countries with exports amounted to 20.2 million, a share of 0.8 percent, Other European Countries which received exports of QR 2.1 million or a share of 0.1 percent.

In May 2021, Germany was at the top of the countries of destination of private sectors exports with close to QR 1006.5 million, a share of 39.2 percent of the total exports. It was followed by Oman with almost QR 421.3 million and a share of 16.4 percent and India with about QR 325.4 million, a share of 12.7 percent. Singapore came in fourth place with almost QR 200.4 million, a share of 7.8 percent and Turkey with exports amounted to about QR 130.1million, a share of 5.1 percent. The value of private sector exports to these countries represented 81.2 percent of the total value of exports during the same month.