Abu Dhabi: The UAE’s non-oil foreign trade in the first half of this year grew 10.5 per cent compared to the same period last year.
According to Federal Customs Authority (FCA) figures, total non-oil foreign trade rose by Dh47.4 billion to Dh498.9 billion this year, up from Dh451.5 billion in the prior period.
Exports were up by 40 per cent during the same period, the FCA said in a press release on Tuesday.
The country’s non-oil exports registered a Dh22 billion increase — from Dh55 billion in the same period last year to Dh77 billion.
Imports grew by 12 per cent, raising the country’s non-oil imports by Dh35.1 million from Dh286.3 billion to Dh321.4 billion in the same period, while re-exports hit Dh100.5 billion.
The FCA’s initial statistics showed an upward trend for exports, which maintained positive growth rates ranging between 30 per cent and 40 per cent, during the first half of this year.
This reflects the impressive growth seen across different sectors, as well as the positive impact of the stimulus policy and measures to promote national investments.
Imports experienced parallel and modest growth rates in the last period, ranging between 6 per cent and 10 per cent only.
In terms of weight, the UAE’s total foreign trade hit about 58.4 million tonnes in the first half of this year, including 27.9 million tonnes in imports, 25.1 million tonnes in exports and 5.4 million tonnes in re-exports.
The daily average weight of consignments (exported, imported and re-exported) processed by different customs outlets hit about 243 thousand tonnes per day (30 thousand tonnes per hour).
“In June alone, the UAE’s foreign trade hit about Dh86.5 billion, including Dh51.7 billion in imports, Dh16.5 billion in exports and Dh18.2 billion in re-exports”, the FCA added.
The Asia-Pacific region retained its first place among the UAE top non-oil foreign trade partners with a trade total of Dh216 billion with the UAE — 44 per cent of this coming in the first half.
“Europe came in the second place with Dh192.4 billion (26 per cent) of the total trade followed by the Middle East and North Africa with Dh72.6 billion (15 per cent), America and the Caribbean with Dh44.7 billion (9 per cent), the Western and Central Africa region with Dh14 billion (2.9 per cent) and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) with Dh13 billion (2.7 per cent), the authority said.
The UAE’s non-oil foreign trade with Gulf Council Countries (GCC) hit Dh46 billion in the first half of this year, including Dh19.3 billion in imports, Dh11.8 billion in exports and Dh14.8 billion in re-exports, the FCA said.
Saudi Arabia kept its top place among the UAE’s trade partners from the GCC in the concerned period. Total trade with Saudi Arabia reached Dh15.1 billion (33 per cent of total GCC trade).
Oman came in second place with Dh10.8 billion (23 per cent) followed by Kuwait with Dh10.1 billion (22 per cent), Bahrain with Dh5.2 billion (11 per cent) and finally Qatar with Dh4.8 billion (10 per cent).
The UAE’s total foreign trade with Arab countries stood at about Dh47.6 billion in the first half of this year — including Dh34.4 billion in imports; Dh17.2 billion in exports and Dh23 billion in re-exports.
The initial statistics in this period showed that gold topped the list of imported goods with Dh60 billion, followed by diamonds (Dh20.6 billion), jewellery (Dh19.5 billion), cars (Dh18.5 billion), and mobile phones (Dh5 billion).
Gold, at Dh41.4 billion, was the top exported good in the period, followed by polyethylene and propylene polymers in crude forms (Dh6.2 billion), jewellery (Dh2.9 billion), raw aluminium (Dh2.3 billion) and petroleum and other oils (Dh1.6 billion).
Diamond came first in re-exports for this period at Dh20.9 billion, followed by jewellery at Dh14.9 billion, cars at Dh8 billion, mobile phones at Dh6.2 billion, and gold at Dh1.9 billion.
The total trade of markets and free zones stood at about Dh8 billion for the period — including Dh3.7 billion in imports, Dh665 million in exports, and Dh3.6 billion in re-exports.
