Qatar Statistics Authority (QSA) has released the report of quarterly Foreign Merchandise Trade statistics relating to the fourth quarter of 2012. This report presents a brief description of exports and imports. Exports are valued free on board (F.O.B) and imports at cost, insurance and freight (C.I.F).   It is to be noted that exports data is mainly collected from commodity producers and exporters, and imports data is collected from Customs General Department. Total exports (Exports of domestic goods and re-exports) of Q4-2012 amounted to 120.4 billion QR showing a drop of 1.6% compared with Q3-2012, but an increase of 9.9% compared with the corresponding quarter of 2011. Table(1),Table(2) Total imports of Q4-2012 was 23.7 billion QR. This represents an increase of 2.1% compared with the previous quarter Q3-2012, and 4.0% compared with the corresponding quarter of 2011. Table(1),Table(2) As a result the balance of merchandise trade in Q4-2012 amounted to 96.6 billion QR compared with 99.2 billion QR for Q3-2012. Table(1),Table(2) Exports Q4-2012  In Q4-2012, Japan ranked as the highest importer with 30% of total Qatari exports, followed by South Korea with 18%, India 12%, Singapore 5% then China with 5%. Table (3) presents the export by selected main countries of destination Q4-2012.  LNG, crude oil and condensates represent the most important commodities exported during Q4-2012. Table (4) presents the top commodities exported during Q4-2012. Imports Q4-2012Table (5) on imports by country of Origin shows that USA and China were the most important countries of origin in Q4-2012. Imports from USA represented 12% and China 10%, followed by Japan 9%, UAE 8% and Germany 7% of the total value of imports. The most important commodities imported during Q4-2012 are the following PASSENGER MOTOR VEHICLE with the value of 2.7 Billion QR, OTHER PARTS OF AEROPLANES OR HELICOPTERS with value 1.2 Billion QR, then ALUMINUM OXIDE with value of 0.5 Billion QR, PEBBLES, GRAVEL, BROKEN OR CRUSHED STONE with value of 0.4 Billion QR, and IRON ORES & CONCENTRATES 0.4 Billion QR. Table (6)   For More Details