DOHA: Qatar’s trade balance of goods, which represents the difference between total exports and imports, showed a surplus of QR22.7bn in December 2014, a decrease of QR11.1bn, or 32.8 percent, from a year ago.
The Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics (MDPS) noted the total exports of goods decreased 21.7 percent in December 2014, compared to the same month in 2013. On the other hand, the imports of goods in December 2014 increased by 18.3 percent over December 2013. However, on a month on month basis the imports increased by 10.0 percent.
The year-on-year decrease in total exports was mainly due to lower exports of petroleum gases and other gaseous hydrocarbons, which declined 17.7 percent compared to December 2013.
In December 2014, Japan was at the top of the countries of destination of Qatar’s exports with QR8.7bn, a share of 25.6 percent of total exports, followed by South Korea with QR6.9bn and India with QR4.4bn. The US was the leading country of origin of Qatar’s imports with QR1.3bn, a share of 11.3 percent of the imports, followed by China with QR1.2bn and Germany with QR0.8bn.
A separate data released by MDPS showed the monthly Producer Price Index (PPI) of the industrial sector declined 5.3 percent in November 2014. The monthly PPI of the industrial sector decreased 18.3 percent on a YoY basis. The index, which covers mining, electricity & water and manufacturing activities, is a measure of the average selling prices received by domestic producers for their output.
