Abu Dhabi: The UAE's non-oil foreign trade increased 22 per cent year on year from January to the end of June, according to a statement by the Federal Customs Authority (FCA).

Non-oil foreign trade increased to Dh445 billion from Dh364.3 billion in the same period last year, the statement said.

Imports grew by 20 per cent from Dh236.5 billion in the first half of last year to Dh285 billion, according to the statement.

FCA said that the UAE's exports increased 51.9 per cent during the first half of this year and attributed this to a growth in value from Dh36 billion to Dh54.7 billion.

FCA said that UAE's exports increased 44 per cent during the first half of this year from Dh36 billion during the same period last year.

Glitter of gold

The statement added that re-exports increased by 17 per cent from Dh89.8 billion in the first half of last year to Dh105.3 billion for the same period this year.

According to FCA, the total value of UAE-GCC non-oil foreign trade was Dh31.8 billion in the first half of last year, of which Dh13.3 billion was in imports, Dh7 billion in exports and Dh11.5 billion in re-exports.

Saudi Arabia maintained its first rank among UAE's trading partners from GCC during the first half of this year with a total value of Dh13.5 billion. Kuwait was second with Dh5.7 billion, Oman third with Dh4.3 billion, followed by Bahrain with Dh4.2 billion and Qatar Dh4.1 billion.

India, China, the US, Germany, Japan, United Kingdom, Italy, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Switzerland topped list of countries exporting to the UAE in the first half of this year sharing a total of Dh175.5 billion, which constitutes 62 per cent of the UAE's total imports.

"The UAE's total foreign trade with Arab countries in terms of value amounted to Dh55.8 billion in the first half of 2011 with Dh24.1 billion worth of imports, Dh10.9 billion worth of exports and Dh20.7 billion of re-exports," according to the statement.

Gold came first among exports in the two quarters valued at Dh27.7 billion followed by fire-fighting, guiding and other ships at Dh4.3 million and petroleum oils and other derivatives with Dh1.8 billion.

Mohammad Amerah, Ajman Chamber of Commerce and Industry adviser, told Gulf News that statistics showed that the UAE is diversifying its economy and is depending on non-oil exports to cope with the global financial crisis. The figures showed an improvement in the performance of the UAE economy, which reflects diversification strategies, Amerah said.