Dubai World Statistics Department: Vehicles and components trade to reach AED 56.8 billion in 2007

In a work paper she presented at the "Middle East Auto 2006" conference, Nassim Al M'heiri, Assistant to the Director, Statistics Department, said, "An analysis of the data on the growth of automotive trade during the few past years showed that the size of such trade was around AED 25.6 billion in 2004, followed by a substantial increase to around AED 36 billion in 2005.

"The first 9 months of the current year recorded a growth rate of 21.39 percent, with the automobile and spares registering AED 26.45 billion worth of trade transactions, as against AED 21.79 billion in 2005."

Statistics show that between January and September, the vehicle imports and re-exports trade grew from AED 12.66 billion in 2005 to AED 16.15 billion this year - an increase of 27.57 percent.

The spare parts and accessories exports and re-exports went up by 12.81 percent- from AED 9.13 billion to AED 10.30 billion for the same period.

The statistics for 2005 also show Afghanistan topping the list of Dubai's automotive re-export business registering deals worth AED 592 million, followed by Iran (AED 572 million), Iraq (AED 557 million), Libya (AED 359 million) and China (AED 264 million).

Figures for the spare parts and accessories trade show Iran as the biggest importer (AED 1.2 billion), followed by Iraq (AED 689 million), Russia (AED 201 million), Libya (AED 159 million) and Afghanistan (AED 151 million).