Quarterly Foreign Merchandise Trade Statistics

Doha, December 31 (QNA) - Qatar Statistics Authority (QSA) has released the report of quarterly Foreign Merchandise Trade statistics relating to the third quarter of 2012. This report is a brief description of exports and imports. Exports are valued free on board (F.O.B) and imports at cost, insurance and freight (C.I.F). It is to be noted that exports data is mainly collected from commodity producers and exporters, and imports data is collected from Customs Authority. Total exports (Exports of domestic goods and re-exports) of Q3 2012 amounted to QR 118,514 bn showing a drop of 0.3% compared with Q2 2012, but an increase of 7.3% compared with the corresponding quarter of 2011. Table(1),Table(2) Total imports of Q3 2012 was QR 26,626 bn. This represents an increase of 10.7% compared with the previous quarter (Q2-2012), and 30.9% compared with the corresponding quarter of 2011. Table(1),Table(2) As a result the balance of merchandise trade in Q3 2012 amounted to QR 91,888 bn compared with QR 94,876 bn for Q2 2012. Table(1),Table(2) Exports Q3 2012 In Q3 2012, Japan ranked as the highest importer with 27% of total Qatari exports, followed by South Korea with 22%, India 10%, China 6% and finally Taiwan with 5%. Table (3) presents the export by selected main countries of destination Q3 2012. LNG, crude oil and condensates represent the most important commodities exported during Q3. Table (4) presents the top eight commodities exported during Q3 2012. Imports Q3 2012 Table (5) on imports by country of origin shows that USA and China were the most important countries of origin in Q3 2012. Imports from USA represented 10% and China 7%, followed by Japan 6%, UAE and Germany shared 5% each of the imports total value. The key five commodities imported during Q3 2012 are the newly registered vehicles at QR 2 708 bn, airplanes and helicopters spare parts at QR 983 million, then iron ores at QR 861 million, aluminum oxide at QR 383 million, pebbles, gravel, broken or crushed stone at QR 376 million.(QNA)