By Santhosh V Perumal/Business Reporter

Qatar’s trade surplus more than halved year-on-year (y-o-y) to QR12.1bn in September 2015 mainly on substantially lower exports of crude and non-crude as well as natural gas, official figures have suggested.
Japan, South Korea, India, the UAE and Singapore were the top destination of Qatar’s exports but shipments to most Asian countries witnessed a substantial double-digit drop y-o-y in September this year, according to figures released by the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics (MDPS).
The precipitous overall fall in the country’s trade surplus is reflective of the considerable drop in the energy prices, which is 50% lower than the 2014 levels, owing to lower demand and increase in the supply from the US and other non-Opec producers.
The trade surplus of Qatar, which has now strengthened its diversification strategies to mitigate the risks from concentration in hydrocarbons, fell 11.2% compared to August 2015 mainly due to shrinkage in exports of crude, non-crude and natural gas as well as higher imports of turbojets and motor cars.
The country’s total exports (valued free-on-board) plunged 39.5% y-o-y to QR21.19bn and it tanked 10.6% month-on-month.
The country’s total exports of domestic products sunk 42.1% to QR19.94bn in September 2015 and it was down 12.9% against August this year.
Qatar’s crude exports tanked 61% to QR2.56bn; non-crude by 59.2% to QR0.88bn; petroleum gases and other gaseous hydrocarbons by 40% to QR13.18bn and other groups of commodities by 12.2% to QR3.33bn.
Against August 2015 levels, there was a 22% decline in exports of crude, 14.9% in non-crude, 10.9% in petroleum gases and other gaseous hydrocarbons and 12.1% in other groups of commodities.
Petroleum gases and other gaseous hydrocarbons constituted 66.1% of total exports of domestic products in September 2015 compared to 63.67% a year-ago period; crude petroleum oils 12.84% (19.04%), non-crude petroleum oils and bituminous minerals 4.41% (6.27%) and other commodities 16.7% (11%).
On export destinations, Japan accounted for 18% of total exports in September 2015, followed by South Korea (16%), India (12%), the UAE (10%) and Singapore (7%).
Qatar’s exports to Japan plunged 54.2% y-o-y to QR3.71bn, India by 49.08% to QR2.5bn, South Korea by 46.84% to QR3.36bn, Singapore by 25.91% to QR1.41bn and the UAE by 2.88% to QR2.02bn.
The country’s re-exports had more than doubled y-o-y to QR1.24bn in September 2015 and it grew 52.3% compared to the previous month’s levels.
Total imports (valued at cost insurance and freight) shrank 7.9% y-o-y to QR9.08bn in September this year on lower shipments from the US and Germany. Imports had fallen faster at 9.9% compared to those in August this year.
China, the US, the UAE, Germany and Japan were among the top five destinations from where Qatar imported merchandise goods.
China accounted for 13% of Qatar’s imports in September 2015, followed by the US at 12%, the UAE and Germany at 8% each, and Japan at 7%.
Qatar’s imports from the US tanked 26.76% to QR1.04bn and Germany by 10.41% to QR0.68bn; while those from China increased 12.87% to QR1.14bn, the UAE by 11.24% to QR0.76bn and Japan by 0.49% to QR0.61bn.
Parts of aircraft and helicopters, motor cars, turbojets and gas turbines and other commodities were the main components in Qatar’s import basket.
The imports of parts of aircraft and helicopters shrank 46.6% y-o-y to QR0.43bn and other groups of commodities by 8.2% to QR7.46bn; whereas those of turbojets and parts thereof surged 83% to QR0.25bn and motor cars by 19.6% to QR0.95bn.