DOHA: The National Planning Council (NPC) has released the preliminary figures of Qatar’s foreign merchandise trade for December 2025, detailing the value of exports—encompassing domestically produced goods and re-exports—as well as imports.
In December 2025, the total value of merchandise exports amounted to around QR26.9bn, reflecting a 13.7 percent decline compared with December 2024, yet showing a 9.9 percent increase from November 2025.
Meanwhile, merchandise imports rose to about QR12.8bn in December 2025, marking a year-on-year rise of 0.6 percent and a month-on-month increase of 6.7 percent.
Qatar’s foreign merchandise trade balance, defined as the difference between total exports and imports, posted a surplus of QR14.1bn in December 2025. This reflects a year-on-year decline of QR4.3bn, or 23.6 percent, compared with December 2024, while marking a month-on-month increase of nearly QR1.6 bn, or 13.0 percent, relative to November 2025.
Comparing December 2025 with December 2024, exports of “Petroleum Gases and Other Gaseous Hydrocarbons”, encompassing LNG, condensates, propane, butane and related products — declined to approximately QR15.5 bn, a 21.0 percent contraction. By contrast, exports of “Crude Petroleum Oils and Oils Obtained from Bituminous Minerals” edged up to around QR3.8bn, registering a 0.5 percent increase. Meanwhile, the value of exports of “Non-crude Petroleum Oils and Oils Obtained from Bituminous Minerals” fell to roughly QR1.9bn, reflecting a 28.1 percent decline.
In December 2025, Qatar’s export landscape was led by China, which secured the top destination spot with QR5.2bn in trade, representing 19.4 percent of the country’s total exports. India followed as the second-largest market, contributing QR3.8 bn (14 percent), while South Korea maintained the third position with exports valued at QR 2.1bn, or 7.7 percent of the total.
On a year-on-year basis, “Motor Cars and Other Motor Vehicles Principally Designed for The Transport of Persons” led Qatar’s merchandise imports in December 2025, valued at QR1.2bn, marking a 26.7 percent increase from December 2024. In second place, “Turbojets, Turbopropellers & Other Gas Turbines; Parts Thereof” rose by 16.6 percent to nearly QR1.2bn. Ranking third, imports of “Electrical Apparatus for Line Telephony/Telegraphy, Telephone Sets, and Parts Thereof” amounted to QR0.6bn, marking a rise of
19.1 percent.
Regarding imports by principal country of origin, China ranked first in Qatar’s merchandise imports in December 2025, valued at approximately QR2.4bn, representing 18.8 percent of total imports. The United States followed with imports worth QR1.7bn, or 13.5 percent of the total, while Italy ranked third with around QR1.0bn, accounting for 7.5 percent of the total.
