The report of the Russian Foreign Trade information portal, prepared on the basis of data from the Federal Customs Service of Russia for 2020, examines the main indicators of bilateral trade between Russia and Qatar, such as trade turnover, exports, imports, their dynamics and commodity structure.
The Roscongress Foundation presents the salient points of the publication accompanied by fragments of broadcasts of relevant panel discussions from the business programme of international events held by the Roscongress Foundation.
Russian net exports to Qatar increased by 185% in 2020
At the end of 2020, trade between Russia and Qatar, calculated as the sum of the value of exports and imports, amounted to USD 100 million, an increase of 21.8% compared to 2019. The trade balance between Russia and Qatar, or net exports, amounted to USD 27.2 million, an increase of 185.06% compared to USD 17 million in 2019. Growing net exports, which represent the difference between the value of exports and imports, is an important component of the country’s economic growth and speaks of the benefits of trade cooperation with this trading partner for Russia.
The bulk of Russia’s exports to Qatar are non-resource goods
The following categories of goods prevail in the structure of Russian exports to Qatar: metals and metal products, which in 2020 amounted to 42.67% of the total volume of Russian exports to Qatar; food products and agricultural raw materials 37.16%; machinery, equipment and vehicles 9.7%. The share of mineral products (foreign trade nomenclature of goods codes 25-27) amounted to only 2.7% of the total volume of Russian exports to Qatar, having decreased from 3.5% in 2019. The highest growth rates for Russian exports to Qatar in 2020 were also recorded in the non-resource sectors. Thus, the increase in the export of ferrous metals amounted to USD 17.9 million; electrical machinery, equipment, apparatus USD 2.2 million; cocoa and cocoa products USD 1.7 million. Overall, Russia’s exports to Qatar in 2020 amounted to USD 63 million, an increase of 38.8% compared to 2019.
Export of food products to Qatar from Russia shows a decline
The largest reduction in Russian exports to Qatar in 2020 compared to 2019 was recorded for the following product groups: cereals — a decrease of US $ 4.2; tea — a decrease of USD 585 thousand; meat and meat food by-products — a decrease of USD 559 thousand; various food products of animal origin — a decrease of $ 403,036. The decline in exports also affected the industrial sectors, in particular, land transport — a decrease of $ 395,000; inorganic chemical products — a decrease of US $ 388 thousand.
Russian imports from Qatar are dominated by oil products
In the structure of Russian imports from Qatar in 2020, as in 2019, the main share of supplies falls on mineral products — 66.72% of the total volume of Russian imports from Qatar. The rest of the import is made up of chemical products: plastics, organic chemical compounds, inorganic chemical products. The largest increase in imports was recorded for petroleum products — by USD 2.4 million, as well as for acyclic hydrocarbons — an increase of USD 1.5 million. At the same time, imports of such commodity groups as plastics decreased by USD 2.6 million, as well as other chemical products — by USD 1 million. Overall, Russia’s imports from Qatar in 2020 amounted to USD 36 million, an increase of 0.4% compared to 2019.
For more information, see the special sections of the Roscongress Foundation Information and Analytical System: Export Promotion, Industrial Diversification, Made in Russia, dedicated to the development opportunities for Russian non-resource exports.
