Data released by the National Planning Council showed that the volume of Qatar’s foreign trade increased by 1.3 percent in 2024, reaching QAR 476.3 billion, compared to QAR 470.2 billion in 2023.
The total value of Qatari exports, including domestic goods and re-exports, reached approximately QAR 346 billion in 2024, compared to QAR 355.8 billion in the previous year. Imports reached QAR 130.3 billion, compared to QAR 114.4 billion in 2023. This resulted in a trade surplus of QAR 215.6 billion.
According to the data, Asia topped Qatar’s trading partners, with a trade volume of QAR 319.4 billion, including exports worth QAR 267.1 billion (77.2 percent of total exports) and imports worth QAR 52.4 billion (40.2 percent of total imports). The trade surplus with Asia reached QAR 214.7 billion.
The European Union countries ranked second with a trade volume of QAR 60.9 billion, with exports amounting to QAR 27.9 billion (8.1 percent of the total) and imports amounting to QAR 33 billion (25.3 percent of the total), recording a deficit of QAR 5.1 billion.
The Gulf Cooperation Council countries ranked third with a trade volume of QAR 52.1 billion, including exports worth QAR 37.2 billion (10.7 percent of the total) and imports worth QAR 14.9 billion (11.4 percent), with a surplus of QAR 22.3 billion. The United States’ trade volume with Qatar reached 22.3 billion riyals, including exports worth 5.5 billion riyals (1.6 percent of the total) and imports worth 16.9 billion riyals (12.9 percent), recording a deficit of 11.4 billion riyals.
Trade with other partners amounted to 5.9 billion riyals for non-EU European countries, 4.4 billion riyals for other American countries, 4.2 billion riyals for other Arab countries, 3.2 billion riyals for Oceania, and 2.4 billion riyals for Africa (excluding Arab countries). The “other unspecified countries” category recorded 1.5 billion riyals. Regarding export destinations, China topped the list with SAR 68.9 billion, followed by South Korea with SAR 46.7 billion, India with SAR 40.6 billion, Japan with SAR 24.5 billion, and Singapore with SAR 24.3 billion. The remaining exports were distributed among other countries, with a value of SAR 141.1 billion.
As for imports, China ranked first with SAR 19.7 billion, followed by the United States with SAR 16.9 billion, Italy with SAR 7.4 billion, India with SAR 7.1 billion, and Japan with SAR 6.7 billion. Imports from other countries accounted for SAR 72.6 billion.
According to the Council’s data, exports of mineral fuels, oils, and similar products accounted for SAR 289.8 billion of total exports in 2024, followed by chemicals and related products with SAR 27.6 billion, and machinery and transportation equipment with SAR 12.5 billion. On the import side, machinery and transport equipment recorded QAR 53.2 billion, an increase from QAR 45.6 billion in 2023, followed by miscellaneous manufactured goods at QAR 19.9 billion, and then food and live animals at QAR 13.7 billion.
Previous reports indicate that Qatar has worked since the early 1990s to align its trade and investment policies with international standards, joining the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1994 and the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1996. It also hosted the WTO’s Fourth Ministerial Conference in 2001 and concluded several bilateral agreements in the areas of investment and trade.
Qatar conducted three reviews of its trade policies under the WTO mechanism, in 2005, 2014, and 2021. The latest statistics indicate that the Qatari economy’s openness index reached 90.8 percent of GDP for the period between 2017 and 2020.
