DUBAI: The non-oil trade of the UAE reached Dh534.1 billion in first half of 2015 compared to Dh521.8 billion year-on-year, achieving a growth of 2 per cent, according to the preliminary statistical data of the Federal Customs Authority (FCA).
Commissioner Ali Al Kaabi, Head of the FCA said in a press statement yesterday, that the UAE total direct non-oil trade is considerably stable despite the economic crisis witnessed by many countries around the world, in addition to slow growth in a number of advance and emerged economies, China in particular, which comes on top of the UAE trade partners.
The stability and the growing trends of the foreign non-oil trade of the UAE establishes the strong position of the UAE economy, and reflects the successful economic diversification policy adopted by the UAE government, in addition to the capability of the UAE exports to strongly compete in the international markets.
The FCA preliminary data indicated that the share of imports of the UAE total direct non-oil trade amounted to Dh337.6 billion during the said period, compared to Dh340.6 billion year-on-year recording a drop of 1%.
The FCA preliminary statistics revealed that the native gold and processed gold come on top of the imported goods in the first half of current year, recording Dh50.7 billion with a share value of 15% of the total non-oil imports.
Vehicles came in the second place on the list of imports with a value of Dh24.8 billion at 7.3%, non-composite diamond with a value of Dh22.1 billion, i.e. 6.5%, followed by mobile phones recording Dh16.1 billion with 5% then ornaments, jewelry and precious metals with a value of Dh14.1 billion with 4%, of the total non-oil imports.
On the other hand, UAE export tremendously grew by 28% as it reached Dh81.4 billion compared to Dh63.6 billion year-on-year with gold export came on top at a value of Dh28.7 billion, representing 35% of the UAE total non-oil exports, followed by the raw aluminum with a value of Dh8.9 billion with 11%, then ornaments and jewelry with a value of Dh7.7 billion, i.e. 9%, ethylene polymers in primary forms with a value of Dh3.5 billion forming 4%, and finally copper wire with a value of Dh1.7 billion representing 2% of the UAE total non-oil exports during the first half of current year.
“The UAE non-oil foreign trade has significantly grown over the last years in light of the increasing economic growth of the UAE supported by the flexible trade policy adopted by the government, the matter which shows the success of the UAE in eliminating all the trade obstacles with the foreign world, as well as simplifying and standardising the customs regulations and procedures across all the entry ports of the UAE,” said Al Kaabi.
Revenues from re-exports dropped by 2% recording Dh115.2 billion compared to Dh117.6 billion year-on-year.
The FCA preliminary data indicated that the non-composite diamond came first as the best re-exported commodity in first half 2015 at a value of Dh24.1 billion representing 21% of the total re-exports, followed by ornaments and jewelry with a value of Dh11.4 billion at 9.9%, then cars with Dh11.3 billion with 9.8%, mobile phones with a value of Dh8.5 billion with 6%, and aerial vehicles parts with a value of Dh2.7 billion forming 2% of the total re-exports during the said period.
Head of FCA also pointed out that the progress of the state to the third rank at the global level in terms of customs efficiency, the reduction of the customs clearance time at the border ports and the improvement of the customs inspectors efficiency contributed to the transformation of the UAE to a regional mall linking between East and West, and to the facilitation of global trade and the capital movement for the establishment of major investment projects, taking advantage of the features and facilities provided by the state.
The UAE total non-oil trade volume reaches in terms of weight during first half 2015 approximately 86.4 million tons, 33.2 million tons of which were imports, and 48.6 million tons of exports, and 4.6 million tons of re-exports.
With regard to the UAE trading partners map in the field of non-oil trade, the FCA pointed out, in its statement, that the regional structure of the UAE trading partners in the field of non-oil trade was stable in terms of regions shares in the first half 2015, as Asia, Australia and the Pacific region maintained the first rank on top of the non-oil trade partners with a share of Dh218.3 billion equivalent to 42% of the UAE total non-oil trade.
The European region came second in the list of the UAE trading partners with a share of Dh129.2 billion representing 25% of the total, followed by the Middle East and North Africa Region with Dh88.9 billion with 17%, and the American and Caribbean Region with Dh49.5 billion with 10% of the total, and West and Central Africa with Dh19.7 billion at 4%, and finally the Eastern and Southern Africa with Dh14.9 billion, representing 3% of the UAE total non-oil trade during the said period.
With regard to the UAE non-oil trade with the GCC countries, the FCA stated that the share of the UAE non-oil trade with the GCC countries in the first half 2015 reached 10% of the total non-oil trade with the world, amounting to Dh53 billion.
Saudi Arabia came on top of the Gulf countries in terms of the value of the UAE non-oil trade with a value of Dh21.2 billion with 40% of the total non-oil trade with the GCC countries, followed by Oman with a value of Dh12.3 billion with 23%, Qatar with Dh7.6 billion at 14%, Kuwait with Dh7 billion with 13%, and finally the Kingdom of Bahrain with a value of Dh5 billion representing 9% of the total non-oil trade with the GCC countries.