Foreign Trade
Asian countries come first in the scale of commercial partners of Qatar. Exports from Qatar to this group during 2002 valued QR 31.847,355 billion against only QR 2.091,969 billion to the GCC countries, with UAE acquiring QR 1.353,853 billion of this balance thus coming top of the category, followed by Saudi Arabia with QR 575.764 million, Bahrain with QR 69.369 million and Kuwait with QR 66.293 million. Exports to the other Arab countries valued QR 1.108,159 billion, broken as follows: to Egypt QR 952.972 million and to Jordan QR 39.006,000 million. Oil and mineral fuel top the export commodity structure with 91% of the total value, followed by chemicals with 4.3% and manufactured goods with 2.2%.
Exports
In 2002, the Qatari exports value reached QR 39.206,851 billion according to the Annual Statistical Abstract - 2003. Asia is the main market for the Qatari exports, where Japan besides China and India buy most of Qatar's exports of crude oil, which continues alongside with Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) to dominate the Qatari structure of exports at present. Oil and gas-related industries export their products to various countries. For instance, Qatar Petrochemical Company (QAPCO) sells petrochemicals to the GCC countries besides India, Pakistan and Australia; the products of Qatar Fertilizer Company (QAFCO) go to India and China and the products of Qatar Steel Company (QASCO) are sold mainly to the other GCC member states.
Imports
The value of the Qatari imports reached QR 14.749,376 billion in 2002, against QR 13.678,000 billion in 2001. The European Community comes top of the list with 38% of the value of Qatar's imports. Non-Arab Asian countries come second with 27.1%, followed by the American countries group in third place with 16.3%, while the Arab countries share represented 13.8% of the total value.
Goods associated with the capitals of major LNG-related projects are dominating the imports structure. Other key imports include vehicles, foodstuff, luxury items, electronics and a host of manufactured goods that are required to meet the increasing size of the population and industrial base.
Necessary commodities required for the development of the infrastructure, as well as foodstuff and personal effects are exempt from custom duties. A minimal tariff of only 5% is levied on most other goods, and a protection tax duty of up to 20% is charged for the products that compete against similar, locally produced goods such as imported steel and cement. Other charges include 30% for urea, 50% for tobacco and 15% for discs and musical instruments, while the goods manufactured in the GCC country are except from customs duty.
Source: http://english.mofa.gov.qa
Trade Balance
The estimates of the trade balance for 2002 indicated a surplus of QR3,981 million. The reason for the drop of QR31.837 billion in the commodity imports account is attributed to the decline in oil exports and the increase of import payments, which stood at QR12.3 billion in 2001.
Major Trade Partners
Japan came on top of Qatar's trade partners in 2002 with 39.6% of the market's value, followed by Korea on the second place with 12.1%, Singapore with 6.7% and USA with 5.2%.
Table 2: Source: Annual Abstract Foreign Trade, 2003, Planning Council
| Imports 2002 |
Exports 2002 |
| Import from |
Value in QR |
Re-Export |
Export |
To |
| European Union |
5 097 823 709 |
138 558 789 |
660 262 584 |
European Union |
| UAE |
1 039 410 548 |
233 501 415 |
1 353 853 491 |
UAE |
| Germany |
1 032 306 375 |
19 674 395 |
935 550 |
Germany |
| UK |
1 123 670 023 |
48 370 218 |
2 957 985 |
UK |
| France |
614 191 614 |
34 385 663 |
51 247 |
France |
| Italy |
1 332 965 745 |
15 192 995 |
373 491 381 |
Italy |
| US |
1 922 916 754 |
23 342 723 |
1 009 571 205 |
US |
| Japan |
1 552 624 227 |
28 714 895 |
18 628 114 895 |
Japan |
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