UAE non-oil trade grows by 2.3% to Dhs238.4bn

In the same period, the UAE imports rise to 6%, raising the UAE non-oil imports by Dhs8.9bn from Dhs147bn in the first quarter of 2011 to Dhs156.3bn this year.

The re-exports reached Dhs47.8bn within this period.

"The growth rate of the UAE non-oil foreign trade hit 2.3% in the first quarter of this year", the FCA said in a press release yesterday.

"Preliminary statistical data showed that the UAE total non-oil trade with foreign countries rose by Dhs5.4bn to Dhs238.4bn from January to late March 2012, compared to Dhs233 b in the same period last year.

"In terms of weight, the UAE total foreign trade hit about 23.4 million tons in the first quarter of 2012, including 13.1 million tons in imports, 8.4 million tons in exports and 2.3 million tons in re-exports," the FCA said.

The daily average of consignments- imported, exported and re-exported- processed by different customs outlets hit about 99 thousand tons per day with an average of 12 thousand tonse per hour.


"The UAE non-oil trade with the outside world hit about Dhs83.5bn in March 2012 only; Dhs54.7bn in imports, Dhs12.2bn in exports and Dhs16.6bn of re-exports," the FCA said.

Asia-Pacific region, the FCA siad, "Maintained first place among the top non-oil trade partners of the UAE in the same quarter. The region's total trade with the UAE reached Dhs110.2bn by 47% of the total trade, followed by Europe with Dhs58.8bn '25% of the total', the Middle East and North Africa 'MENA' region with Dhs31bn '13%', America and the Carribean with Dhs21.3bn '9%', the Central and Western Africa with Dhs6.7bn '2.9%' and COMESA with Dhs6.3bn'2.7%'."

"The total of UAE non-oil foreign trade with the Gulf Council Countries 'GCC' hit Dhs18.6bn in the first quarter of this year," the FCA said in the press release. This total consisted of Dhs6.9bn in imports, Dhs4.8bn in exports and Dhs6.9bn in re-exports. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 'KSA'," the FCA said, kept its top place among the UAE trade partners from the GCC in the first quarter.

The UAE total trade with the KSA reached Dhs7.1bn. Oman came in the second place with Dhs4.7bn followed by Kuwait with Dhs2.4bn, Qatar with Dhs2.4bn and finally Bahrain with Dhs2bn.

"The UAE total foreign trade with Arab countries hit about Dhs31.8bn in the first quarter. This total is divided into Dhs14.1bn in imports; Dhs7bn in exports and Dhs10.7bn in re-exports", the FCA added.

"The preliminary statistics for the first quarter of this year showed that gold came at the top of the imported goods with Dhs26.5bn, followed by diamond with Dhs11.7bn, cars with Dhs9bn and jewelry with Dhs7.1bn," the FCA said.

In the first quarter, the FCA said, "Gold was the top among exported goods with Dhs17.6bn, followed by polyethylene and propylene polymers in crude forms with Dhs3.8bn, jewels and pieces of jewelry with Dhs1.1bn and petroleum and other oils with Dhs812m."

"Diamond, the FCA indicated, came first in re-exports in the first quarter of 2012 with Dhs12bn, followed by jewels and pieces of jewelry with Dhs3.6bn, phones with Dhs3.4bn. The total trade of markets and free zones," the FCA said, hit Dhs3.8bn in the same period.