Qatar Chamber: Qatar's Non-oil Exports Reach QR 1.71 billion in February

Doha, April 09 (QNA) - The total value of Qatar's non-oil exports in February reached QR 1.71 billion compared to QR 1.4 billion in January 2017, recording an increase of 22.1%, the monthly report of Qatar Chamber on the foreign trade of the private sector published on Sunday shows. The report, which was prepared based on certificates of origin issued by Qatar Chamber last February, indicates that the increase reached 31.5% compared to the same month last year, which amounted to QR 1.3 billion. It pointed out that about 60.1% of these exports were received by the GCC countries at a value of about QR 1 billion, which indicates the strength of intra-GCC trade, while the rest of them were distributed to about 45 countries in the world. The report shows that Qatar Chamber issued 4658 certificates of origin last February for many destinations in 51 international markets at least, which reflects the great mobility of the business activity of local companies and their strong growth. The Qatari exports went to a total of 51 countries in February, including 17 Arab countries, 11 European countries, 7 Asian countries, African countries and 4 countries of North and South Americas, the report said, adding that this indicates the widespread of export destinations for Qatari non-oil exports. The UAE topped the list of countries which received Qatari non-oil exports in February 2017 with total exports amounting to QR 772.6 million, or 45.4% of Qatar's total non-oil exports for February, followed by the Arab Republic of Egypt with total exports amounted to QR 289.6 million or 17.1%. Oman came in third place with total exports amounted to QR 169.9 million or 9.9% of Qatar's total exports. Turkey ranked fourth with exports worth QR 72.8 million or 4.3%, followed by Saudi Arabia, which received QR 50.1 million exports or 2.9% of the Qatar's total exports during February. In second place after the GCC comes other Arab country. An export to that group was QR362.9 million, which represents 21.2 percent of the total non-oil Qatari exports made during the same month. In third place was an Asian country which received Qatar exports of 191.3 million, which represents 11.2 percent of the total. European markets including Turkey received 5.7 percent of Qatari exports, or QR 97.7. African countries, North America, and South America represented 0.9 percent, 0.6 percent, 0.3 percent respectively of the total exports. Arab countries including GCC took in 81.3 percent of the total Qatari exports, something that reflects the strong trade ties between Qatar and its Arab neighbors. The same statistic shows that the Qatari needs to work harder on expanding the international market for non-oil Qatari products. Aluminum bullions and alloys to the non-oil Qatari exports. They were followed by other products such as industrial gases, fertilizer, polyethylene, plastic bags, and flour. Chairman of Qatar Chamber HE Sheikh Khalifa bin Jassim Al-Thani said today that the increase in non-oil exports was a result of the wise policies of HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani and commitment to the private sector. The chairman of Qatar Chamber also praised local companies for their involvement in the country's foreign trade activities, and for the high growth in their exports to different countries around the world. For his part, Director General of Qatar Chamber Saleh bin Hamad Al Sharqi also praised the increase in Qatari non-oil exports and said that the chamber was keen on working with state institutions to achieve Qatar National Vision 2030. He also expressed his delight that the majority of exports were from the industrial sector, saying that this was a clear indication that the economic diversification efforts were on the right track. (QNA)