(MENAFN- The Peninsula) The Peninsula
DOHA: Qatar's trade surplus witnessed a sharp jump year-on-year in January 2018, reflecting upon the fact that Qatar has successfully defused the impact of the ongoing blockade.
The foreign merchandise trade balance, which represents the difference between total exports and imports, in the first month of this year showed a surplus of QR16.4bn, registering a remarkable increase of about QR 5.6bn, or 52.2 percent, compared to the corresponding month last year (January 2017).
The significant increase in total value of exports was understandably due to rebound in the prices of petroleum and other hydrocarbons products.
When compared on monthly basis, the trade surplus in January 2018 surged by nearly QR1.5bn, or 9.8 percent, compared to December 2017, preliminary figures released by the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics showed.
In January 2018, the total exports of goods (including exports of goods of domestic origin and re-exports) amounted to around QR25.9bn, showing an increase of 28.8percent compared to January 2017, and increase by 0.1 percent compared to December 2017.
The value of imports of goods in January 2018 amounted to QR9.6bn, showing an increase of 2 percent over January 2017. However, on a month-on-month (m-o-m) basis the imports decreased by 13 percent.
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, and others) reaching QR16.9bn approximately in January 2018, an increase of 28.3 percent, Petroleum oils and oils from bituminous minerals (crude) reaching about QR4.2bn, up 76.7percent, and increase in the Petroleum oils & oils from bituminous minerals (not crude) reaching QR1.7bn, increased by 17.3 percent.
In January 2018, South Korea was at the top of the countries of destination of Qatar's exports with close to QR4.9bn, a share of 19.4 percent of total exports, followed by Japan with almost QR4.5bn and a share of 17.8 percent, China with about QR3.3bn, a share of 13 percent.
During January 2018, the group of 'Motor cars and other passenger vehicles was at the top of the imported group of commodities, with QR600m, showing a decrease of 13 percent compared to January 2017. In second place was 'Turbojets, Turbo propellers and Other Gas Turbines; Parts Thereof, with QR500m, showing an increase of 61.6 percent, and in third place was 'Electrical Apparatus For Line Telephony/Telegraphy, Telephone Sets and others; Parts Thereof, with QR300m, showing a decrease of 0.6 percent.
In January 2018, China was the leading country of origin of Qatar's imports with about QR1.4bn, a share of 14.4 percent of the imports, closely followed by the US with QR1.4bn, a share of 14.3 percent, and India with QR600m, a share of 6.2 percent.
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