Energy-rich Qatar's exports plunged more than 40 percent in value in the year up until July 2015, on the back of a slump in petrol and hydrocarbon sales, official figures showed Sunday.

State news agency QNA, citing figures from the development planning and statistics ministry, said exports for July totalled 23.5 billion Qatari riyals ($6.5 billion, 5.8 billion euros).

The figure represented a drop of around one percent on June, but a massive 41.7 percent fall compared to July 2014, QNA said.

Petrol and hydrocarbon exports slumped by 40.5 percent to 15.6 billion riyals.

The figures also showed that imports had risen by 13 percent month-on-month, and Qatar's biggest imports were helicopters, planes and cars.

Japan was the top exporter to Qatar, with 4.3 billion riyals worth of products.