Japanese trade with the UAE during the year 2004 (page 1 of 4)

Exports to the UAE grew by 27.14% to US$ 4.6 billion and imports by 28.33% to US$ 18.3 billion. UAE had been enjoying comfortable trade surpluses for years, due to its supply of mineral fuels to Japan. Attributed mainly to the surge in crude oil prices, UAE had increased her trade surplus with Japan by 28.73% to US$ 13.71 billion in 2004, compared to US$ 10.66 billion in 2003.

UAE was Japan's 22th largest export market in the world in 2004, with a number of commodities finding UAE as the topmost market. United States of America was Japan's largest export market, covering 22.4% of all her exports, followed by China (13.1%) and South Korea (7.8%). Japanese trade with the UAE has been growing for many years now, with more and more Japanese companies entering into UAE's market with the intension of trading in goods and services and for investment. Existing excellent bilateral relationship between the two countries is positively contributing to the growth in the two-way trade. UAE has over 150 Japanese companies operating from within the country, a majority of them concentrated in the Jebel Ali Free Zone. Japanese companies are showing increasing interest in investments in the UAE by way of participating in the country's infrastructure developments.

Japan's exports to the UAE:

Reflecting UAE's economic boom, Japan's exports to the UAE grew by 27.14% in 2004. 96.2% of the exports to the UAE were constituted of manufactured products. Foodstuff, raw materials and mineral fuels constituted the remaining 3.8%. From the export of manufactured products, which was valued at US$ 4.43 billion, 77.8% were covered by machinery & equipment (US$ 3.58 billion) that included general machinery, electrical machinery, transport equipment and precision instruments. Export of chemicals materials surged by 20% to US$ 50.22 million in 2004 from 41.85 million in the previous year.

Export of general machinery surged by 31.78% to US $ 764.96 million, compared to US $ 582.52 million in 2003. Parts of vapor turbines saw a vertical jump in exports, making UAE Japan's 2nd largest export destination for this item after China. The export value of this particular commodity shot from less than a million US dollars in 2003 to around US$ 73 million in 2004. Exports of gasoline and diesel engines for vehicles surged by 51.69 and 33.85 per cent respectively. Similarly export of mechanical shovels jumped from US$ 54.67 million in 2003 to US$ 86.00 million in 2004, an increase by more than 57 per cent. Since the civil engineering and construction industry in the UAE is experiencing a boom, machinery exports from Japan to the UAE is expected to soar in the coming years.

Export of electrical machinery shot up by 68.71% to US$ 826.02 million from 489.63 million in 2003.