That projected dollar amount reflects a 28% increase compared to $84.9 billion five years earlier in 2018.
Year over year, the overall value of Qatar’s exported products accelerated by 24.6% from $87.2 billion during 2021.
Located on the Arabian Peninsula’s northeast coast, the State of Qatar borders with Saudi Arabia while sharing sea borders on the Persian Gulf with the United Arab Emirates and Iran.
Based on statistics from RichestCountryReports.com, Qatar is the world’s richest country in terms of GDP per capita.
Qatar’s Major Trading Partners
The latest available country-specific data is from 2021. Those statistics show that 81.6% of products exported from Qatar was bought by importers in: mainland China (15.5% of the global total), Japan (13.6%), India (12.84%), South Korea (12.83%), Singapore (6.1%), United Arab Emirates (4%), United Kingdom (3.4%), Thailand (3.1%), Pakistan (3%), Italy (2.8%), Taiwan (2.6%) and Kuwait (2%).
From a continental perspective, 81.9% of Qatar’s exports by value was delivered to Asian countries while 12.9% was sold to importers in Europe. Qatar shipped another 2% worth of goods to North America.
Smaller percentages went to Oceania (1.5%) led by Australia, Africa (1.1%), then Latin America (0.5%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean.
Given Qatar’s population of 2.67 million people, its total $108.7 billion in 2022 exports translates to roughly $40,700 for every resident in the Middle Eastern country. That dollar metric far exceeds the average $20,700 per capita one year earlier during 2021.
Qatar’s Top 10 Exports
The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Qatari global shipments during 2022. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from Qatar.
- Mineral fuels including oil: US$95.3 billion (87.7% of total exports)
- Fertilizers: $3 billion (2.8%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: $2.2 billion (2.1%)
- Aluminum: $2 billion (1.8%)
- Inorganic chemicals: $1.1 billion (1%)
- Organic chemicals: $807.4 million (0.7%)
- Salt, sulphur, stone, cement: $550.5 million (0.5%)
- Gems, precious metals: $451.8 million (0.4%)
- Iron, steel: $217.5 million (0.2%)
- Copper: $139.6 million (0.1%)
Qatar’s top 10 exports accounted for 97.4% of the overall value of its global shipments.
Gems and precious metals was the fastest grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 301.8% from 2021 to 2022. That product category was propelled by stronger international revenues from jewelry and diamonds exported by Qatar.
In second place for improving export sales was mineral fuels including oil via a 29.5% advance.
Qatar’s shipments of fertilizers posted the third-fastest gain in value, up by 24.3%.
The leading decliner among Qatar’s top 10 export categories was organic chemicals, pulled down by a -36.2% year-over-year retreat.
At the more granular four-digit Harmonized Tariff System code level, petroleum gases were Qatar’s most valuable exported product worth 52.9% of the country’s total. In second place was crude oil (21.5%) trailed by refined petroleum oils (13.1%), nitrogenous fertilizers (2.8%), ethylene polymers (2%), unwrought aluminum (1.7%), hydrogen and rare gases (0.8%), non-sublimed sulphur (0.5%), acyclic hydrocarbons (0.4%) and jewelry (0.3%).
Qatar’s trio of largest exports by value–petroleum gases, crude oil and refined petroleum oils–reveal a highly concentrated portfolio of exported goods. Combined, the top 3 most valuable accounted for 92.3% of the Middle Eastern country’s overall export sales during 2022.
Products Resulting in Qatar’s Largest Trade Surpluses
Qatar posted an estimated US$77.6 billion trade surplus during 2022, swelling by 31.1% from $59.2 billion in black ink one year earlier for 2021.
The following types of Qatari product shipments represent positive net exports or a trade balance surplus. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports.
In a nutshell, net exports represent the amount by which foreign spending on a home country’s goods or services exceeds or lags the home country’s spending on foreign goods or services.
- Mineral fuels including oil: US$94.9 billion (Up by 29.5% since 2021)
- Fertilizers: $3 billion (Up by 24.1%)
- Aluminum: $1.8 billion (Up by 20.1%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: $1.7 billion (Down by -32.4%)
- Organic chemicals: $718.2 million (Down by -32.5%)
- Inorganic chemicals: $537.1 million (Up by 19.5%)
- Salt, sulphur, stone, cement: $534.9 million (Up by 86.8%)
- Copper: $93.1 million (Reversing a -$309.1 million deficit)
Qatar has highly positive net exports in the international trade of mineral fuels-related goods notably petroleum gases and both crude and refined petroleum oils. In turn, these cashflows indicate Qatar’s strong competitive advantages under the mineral fuels including oil product category.
Products Causing Qatar’s Worst Trade Deficits
Below are exports from Qatar that result in negative net exports or product trade balance deficits. These negative net exports reveal product categories where foreign spending on home country Qatar’s goods trail Qatari importer spending on foreign products.
- Machinery including computers: -US$4.5 billion (Down by -2.9% since 2021)
- Vehicles: -$2.8 billion (Up by 91.6%)
- Aircraft, spacecraft: -$2.7 billion (Up by 503.2%)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: -$2.5 billion (Down by -1%)
- Gems, precious metals: -$1.5 billion (Up by 20.5%)
- Articles of iron or steel: -$1.3 billion (Up by 31.2%)
- Arms, ammunition: -$1.12 billion (Up by 240.4%)
- Furniture, bedding, lighting, signs, prefabricated buildings: -$1.1 billion (Up by 30.9%)
- Ships, boats: -$992.3 million (Reversing a $799.7 million surplus)
- Optical, technical, medical apparatus: -$780.7 million (Up by 34.4%)
Qatar has highly negative net exports and therefore deep international trade deficits for products under the machinery including computers category.
Qatari Export Companies
Eight Qatari corporations rank among Forbes Global 2000 albeit many of these are in the financial services. Below are selected samples from the Forbes listing.
- Qatar National Bank (regional bank)
- Ooredoo Telecom (telecommunications services)
- Industries Qatar (specialized chemicals)
Wikipedia lists exports-related companies from Qatar. Selected examples are shown below.
- Qatar National Cement Company (cement manufacturing)
- Qatar Petroleum (oil, gas)
- Qatar Steel (steel, other basic materials)
- Qatargas (natural gas)
- RasGas (natural gas)
In macroeconomic terms, Qatar’s total exported goods represent 35.4% of its overall Gross Domestic Product for 2022 ($307.3 billion valued in Purchasing Power Parity US dollars). That 35.4% for exports to overall GDP in PPP for 2022 compares to 28.4% for 2021. Those percentages suggest a relatively increasing reliance on products sold on international markets for Qatar’s total economic performance, albeit based on a relatively short timeframe.
Another key indicator of a country’s economic performance is its unemployment rate. Qatar’s unemployment rate was 0.1% at January 2023, down from an average 0.3% for March 2022 according to Trading Economics.
Qatar’s capital city is Doha.
See also World’s Richest Export Countries, Japan’s Top Trading Partners, India’s Top Trading Partners and South Korea’s Top Trading Partners
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Country Profiles. Accessed on July 12, 2023
Forbes 2018 Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on July 12, 2023
International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on July 12, 2023
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on July 12, 2023
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on July 12, 2023
Wikipedia, Gross domestic product. Accessed on July 12, 2023
Wikipedia, List of Companies of Qatar. Accessed on July 12, 2023
Wikipedia, Purchasing power parity. Accessed on July 12, 2023
Wikipedia, Qatar. Accessed on July 12, 2023
