Ras Al Khaimah: A total of 1,847 firms became new members of the Ras Al Khaimah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RAKCCI) in 2010 with about 30 per cent of these businesses being registered in the first quarter, official figures showed.
The figures showed that commodities valued at Dh7.9 billion were exported from Ras Al Khaimah in 2010.
Raja Al Tunaiji, head of RAKCCI's economic studies unit, said 550 firms were registered in the first quarter of 2010, 525 in the second quarter, 389 in the third quarter and 383 in the fourth quarter.
New licences
Compared with 2009, the number of new lic-ences dropped by 3.5 per cent when the figure stood at 1,914. According to Al Tunaiji, these firms are operating in 14 diverse economic sectors with the trade and maintenance services sector taking the lion's share with 849 firms.
The construction and building sector came in second with 341 companies.
In third and fourth places were the manufacturing industry and personal and social services sectors with 212 and 147 firms respectively. There were 128 companies in the real estate, rent and business services sector, 88 companies in the restaurants and hotels sector, and 36 companies in the transportation, storage and communications sector.
"Certificates of origin issued by the RAKCCI are rising steadily, increasing 4.3 per cent to 35,274 certificates in 2010 from 33,831 in 2009," Al Tunaiji said.