UAE general trade jumps to Dhs346bn in Q1-12

The Federal Customs Authority (FCA) said that imports accounted for Dhs219,9bn of UAE total trade, while exports and re-exports represented Dhs38bn and Dhs88,3bn, respectively.

FCA said in a press statement yesterday that the total value of UAE non-oil foreign trade(the first contributor to the state's general trade volume) rose to Dhs238,4bn in Q1-12, while the total FZ trade (the second contributor) increased to Dhs107,8bn in the same period.

The total value of FZ trade increased by 18% year-on-year to Dhs107,8bn in Q1-12, from Dhs91,6bn.

"FZ imports jumped by 16% from Dhs55bn to Dhs63,6bn in Q1-12. Exports hiked 50% from Dhs2,5bn to Dhs3,7bn. Re-exports for free zones climbed 19% from Dhs34bn to Dhs40,5bn," FCA stated.

In terms of weight, the volume of markets and FZ trade in Q1-12 reached about 6,5 million tons, including 4,2 million tons of imports, 406 thousand tons of exports and 1,9 million tons of re-exports.

The Asia-Pacific countries came on top of the UAE's trade partners with respect to the FZ trade volume in Q1-12. This region contributed 43%, or Dhs45,2bn of the total FZ trade volume, FCA added.


The MENA region ranked second, representing 24%, or Dhs24,5bn of the free zones' volume, followed by Europe (18%, or Dhs18,4bn), the Caribbean region (8%, recording Dhs8,2bn), East and South Africa region (3%, representing Dhs3,4bn) and West and Central Africa region (2%, or Dhs1,6bn).

The total FZ trade volume with the GCC countries significantly increased in terms of re-exports, compared to imports, which in turn reflects that the GCC countries represent one of the major export destinations to the UAE's free zones.

The total FZ trade volume with the GCC countries in terms of value hit Dhs13,8bn in Q1-12 - with Dhs2,4bn imports, Dhs11,1bn re-exports and Dhs259m exports.

Saudi Arabia took the first spot among GCC region's trading partners with a total value of Dhs8bn, or 58% of total trade. Kuwait came second (Dhs2,4bn, or 18%), followed by Qatar (Dhs1,8bn, or 13%), Oman (Dhs892m, or 6%) and Bahrain (Dhs613m, or 4%).

FCA also pointed out that the total foreign trade volume of the UAE with the Arab countries in terms of value rose remarkably in terms of re-exports, amounting to Dhs25,1bn in Q1-12 out of which Dhs2.8bn representing imports with Dhs1,2bn worth of imports, while exports from the free zones in the State to those countries amounted to Dhs21.1bn.

FCA confirmed that telephone sets took the first position among imports, with a value of Dhs9bn. It was followed by petroleum oils and processed mineral oils with Dhs5,8bn, then data processing devices, magnetic and optical readers (Dhs4,8bn), gold (Dhs3,9bn), cars (Dhs2,3bn), and diamond (Dhs2,2bn).

Cigar and cigarettes also took the first rank in the exports list with Dhs766m. Petroleum oils and processed mineral oils ranked second with Dhs480m. It was followed by structures and parts of structures (bridges, parts of bridges, gates, dams, towers, etc.) Dhs124m and cars (Dhs100m).

On the level of re-exports, telephone sets came first with a total value Dhs8,7bn, followed by petroleum oils and processed mineral oils with Dhs4,8bn, data processing devices, magnetic and optical readers (Dhs3,4bn), gold (Dhs2,7bn), diamond (Dhs1,8bn), monitors and projectors (Dhs1,2bn) and jewelry and ornaments (Dhs1bn).