Abu Dhabi's non-oil trade took a huge jump in imports and re-exports last year. According to statistics released by Abu Dhabi Customs yesterday, imports hit Dh982.17 million compared to Dh638.37 million in 1999, up 54 per cent.

Re-exports climbed to Dh1.17 billion from Dh850.75 million, a 38 per cent rise. However, exports fell three per cent to Dh20.629 billion from Dh21.241 billion the previous year. The leading exporters to Abu Dhabi were Canada, Qatar, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Oman and India. And although exports from the Netherlands totalled only Dh19.88 million, this was a huge rise from 1999's Dh3.62 million.

Iran leads in re-exports from Abu Dhabi, followed by Saudi Arabia, Qatar, India, Libya, Egypt, Kuwait and Singapore. Saudi Arabia's imports from Abu Dhabi put it in first place at Dh2.949 billion, followed by Japan, Germany, the U.S., the UK, Italy and France.

The highest valued imports were machinery, sound recorders and parts (Dh7.116 billion), followed by transport vehicles (Dh3.531 billion), and base metals and articles made from them (Dh2.651 billion).

Machinery, sound recorders and parts accounted for the highest exports (Dh275.98 million), followed by transport vehicles (Dh171.69 million) and base metals (Dh164.61 million).