By Pratap John/Chief Business Reporter


Motor cars and other passenger vehicles worth QR1.2bn were imported in Qatar in April, a 28.4% jump year-on-year, according to the Ministry of Development Planning & Statistics.
Official data yesterday showed motor cars and other passenger vehicles topped the list of imported items in Qatar in April.
The next major item on Qatar’s import list was aircraft and helicopter parts, which accounted for QR700mn, up 5% year-on-year (y-o-y).
Insulated wires, cables (including coaxial cable) and optical fibre cables worth QR400mn were also among the major import items in April. Their imports have shown a 252% surge y-o-y.
Qatar generated a trade surplus of QR14.9bn in April with exports totalling QR25.5bn and imports QR10.6bn.
But the trade surplus in April was QR16.1bn or 51.8% lower than in the same period in 2014. And compared to March, the trade balance shrunk by QR1.5bn or 9.2% in April.
April exports, however, dropped 36% compared to the same period last year, the ‘foreign merchandise trade statistics’ showed. And compared to March this year, total exports of goods decreased by 4.8%, MDPS said.
On the other hand, total imports of goods in April showed an increase of 19.5% compared with April last year. However, on a month-on-month (m-o-m) basis, imports increased by 2.2%.
The year-on-year (April 2015 on April 2014) decrease in total exports was mainly due to lower exports of petroleum gases and other gaseous hydrocarbons such as LNG, condensates, propane and butane, according to MDPS data
Exports of petroleum gases and other gaseous hydrocarbons accounted for QR15.7bn in April, down 39.7% y-o-y.
Exports of petroleum oil and oil from bituminous minerals (crude) netted QR3.7bn, down 41.6% y-o-y.
The exports of petroleum oils and oils from bituminous minerals (not crude) accounted for QR900mn, down 65.2%, y-o-y.
Qatar’s top export destinations in April were South Korea (QR5.5bn with a share of 21.5% of total exports) followed by Japan (QR4.3bn; 17.1%) and India (QR3.4bn; 13.2%).
On the other hand, the US was Qatar’s top import destination with QR1.3bn and a share of 12.4% of the imports, followed by the UAE (QR900mn; 8.8%), and China QR900mn; 8.5%).