DOHA: The bilateral trade volume in goods between Qatar and the US witnessed a double-digit growth (year-on-year) in first quarter of this year (Q1, 2018) compared to the corresponding period last year.
The combined value of goods exchanged between the two countries reached at QR4.30bn ($1.18bn) in Q1, 2018, registering a sharp jump of nearly 23 percent compared to QR3.49bn ($961m) in the first three months of the previous year (2017), latest official data released by the US Department of Commerce show.
The balance of trade in goods between Qatar and the US in Q1, 2018 stood at QR1.21bn ($333m), which also saw double-digit growth of 16.64 percent compared to QR1.04bn ($285.5m) for the same period in 2017. The trade balance between the two countries continued to be in favour of the US—the world’s largest economy, according to statistics available on US Census Bureau’s official website.
The total value of US exports of goods to Qatar during the first three months of this year reached $757.2m, while its imports from Qatar in the same period stood at $424.2m. The value of US exports of goods from January –March period in 2017 was $623.2m and its imports from Qatar in the same period reached at $337.8m.
The Qatar-US bilateral trade volume in goods for the full year in 2017 reached at $4.31bn (QR15.69bn) against $6.08bn (QR22.14bn) in the previous year. The US trade surplus (in goods) with Qatar in 2017 declined to $1.91bn from $3.76bn in 2016.
The US stood at second position in the list of Qatar’s import destinations (after China) with a total import volume of over QR1.14bn in March 2018, accounting for nearly 12 percent of Qatar’s total imports for the month.
Some of the major items of US exports to Qatar include aircraft, machinery and equipment, vehicles, spare parts, electrical machinery, agriculture items and food products, including meat, poultry and dairy products.
The top import categories in the US from Qatar include mineral fuels, aluminum, fertilizers, and inorganic chemicals such as helium, and some agricultural products, according to information available on the website of the ‘Office of the US Trade Representative’.
Qatar was US’ 55th largest goods trading partner with $6.1bn in total two way goods trade during 2016.
The foreign direct investment (FDI) from the US in Qatar (stock) was $8.7bn in 2016, a 9.1 percent increase from 2015, and Qatar’s FDI in the US (stock) was $2bn in 2016.
