Qatar's trade surplus amounted to QR12.51bn in January 2020 with Asia accounting for about 72% of the country's exports, according to the Planning and Statistics Authority (PSA).
The surplus, however, fell 12.4% and 20.7% year-on-year and month-on-month respectively, a PSA report said.
In absolute terms, Japan, China, South Korea, India and Singapore were among the largest export markets of Qatar; while imports mainly came from China, the US, Germany, the UK and India during the period under review.
In January 2020, total exports of goods (including exports of goods of domestic origin and re-exports) amounted to QR22.38bn, which registered 5% and 9% declines on yearly and monthly basis respectively.
Although the exports of petroleum gases and other gaseous hydrocarbons grew 1.5% year-on-year to QR15.15bn; those of crude fell 23% to QR3.15bn, non-crude by 13.7% to QR1.18bn and other commodities by 13.3% to QR2.06bn at the end of January 2020.
On a monthly basis, the exports of petroleum gases and other gaseous hydrocarbons shrank 6.8%, crude by 15.7%, non-crude by 26.1% and other commodities by 12.3%.
Petroleum gases constituted 70.33% of the exports of domestic products compared to 67.81% a year ago period, crude 14.62% (15.63%), non-crude 5.48% (6.64%) and other commodities 9.56% (9.82%).
In January this year, Qatar's shipments to Japan amounted to QR4.27bn, accounting for 19.1% of the total exports; China QR3.61bn (16.1%); South Korea QR3.28bn (14.7%); India QR3.16bn (14.1%); and Singapore QR1.74bn (7.8%).
On a yearly basis, Qatar's exports to Singapore declined 19.44%, China 14.86% and South Korea 14.14%; while those to India and Japan grew 2.27% and 0.71% respectively.
On a monthly basis, Qatar's exports to Singapore dropped 15.94%, Japan 14.43%, South Korea 2.38% and India 1.56%; whereas those to China were up 4.03%.
The country's re-exports amounted to QR0.85bn in January 2020, which showed surges of 5.3% and 26.2% on a yearly and monthly basis respectively.
Qatar's total imports (valued at cost insurance and freight) amounted to QR9.88bn, which showed 6.4% and 11.9% jump year-on-year and month-on-month respectively in January 2020.
In January this year, imports from China stood at QR1.95bn, which accounted for 19.7% of the total, the US QR1.55bn (15.7%), Germany QR0.72bn (7.3%), the UK QR0.7bn (7%) and India QR0.51bn (5.2%).
On a yearly basis, Qatar's imports from China soared 74.11%, the UK by 57.6%, Germany by 22.92% and the US by 13.97%; while those from India were down 0.78%.
On a monthly basis, the country's imports from China shot up 68.1%, the UK by 46.93%, Germany by 40.04%, the US by 24.02% and India by 22.95%.
In January 2020, imports of motor cars and other motor vehicles for transport were valued at QR0.43bn, parts of aircraft QR0.39bn, gold (including gold plated with platinum) QR0.16bn and other commodities QR8.9bn.
