The state’s non-oil foreign trade during the first quarter of this year touched 500 billion dirhams for the first time in the history of the country, achieving a growth rate of 20.5% to reach 499.7 billion dirhams, compared to 414.6 billion dirhams for the same period in 2021, with a growth of 26.3% compared to the value registered in 2019, which amounted to 395.8 billion dirhams, according to the Federal Center for Competitiveness and Statistics.

Preliminary data issued by the center showed, a while ago, that the total non-oil exports rose to 218.5 billion dirhams at the end of the first quarter of this year, compared to 183.4 billion dirhams for the same period last year, a growth of 19.1%, and compared to 176 billion dirhams for the first quarter of 2019 with a growth 24.1%.

The value of re-exports during the first quarter of this year amounted to about 130.5 billion dirhams, compared to 108.5 billion dirhams for the same period in 2021, a growth of 20.3%, and about 115.7 billion dirhams in the first quarter of 2019, a growth of 12.8%.

The value of non-oil exports rose during the comparison period to 88 billion dirhams, compared to 75 billion dirhams in the same period last year, a growth of 17.4%, and about 60.34 billion dirhams for the first quarter of 2019, a growth of 45.9%.

Imports grew during the first quarter of this year by 21.7% to 281.2 billion dirhams, compared to 231.1 billion dirhams in the first quarter of last year, with a growth of 28% over the same period in 2019, whose non-oil imports amounted to about 219.8 billion dirhams.

China topped the list of the top 10 countries in total foreign trade with the UAE during the first quarter with a value of 57 billion dirhams, followed by India with 46.2 billion dirhams, Saudi Arabia with 32.5 billion dirhams, the United States of America with 25.8 billion dirhams, Iraq with 20.3 billion dirhams, Switzerland with 18.6 billion dirhams, and Turkey With a value of 17.2 billion dirhams, Japan with 12.9 billion dirhams, Hong Kong, China with a value of 12.6 billion dirhams, and Oman with 11.5 billion dirhams. And the United Kingdom with a value of 17.1 billion dirhams, Turkey with 12.7 billion dirhams, Japan with 10.7 billion dirhams, Saudi Arabia with 8 billion dirhams, Italy with 7.4 billion dirhams, Germany with 7.2 billion dirhams, France with 7.1 billion dirhams, and Vietnam with nearly 7 billion dirhams.

Switzerland topped the list of countries receiving UAE exports with a value of 13 billion dirhams, a growth of 395 percent compared to the value of exports during the first quarter of 2021, which amounted to 2.6 billion dirhams.

India ranked second in that list, receiving UAE exports with a value of 8.7 billion dirhams, and Saudi Arabia in third place with a value of 7.9 billion dirhams, followed by Hong Kong, China, with a value of 6.8 billion dirhams, achieving a growth of 90% compared to the value recorded for the same period last year. Iraq ranked tenth, with a value of 2.6 billion dirhams, and a growth of 100% compared to the same period in 2021.

Saudi Arabia ranked first in the list of countries receiving re-exports from the UAE with a value of 16.5 billion dirhams, followed by Iraq with 14.2 billion dirhams, India with 13.6 billion dirhams, the United States of America with 5.8 billion dirhams, Kuwait 5.4 billion dirhams, Iran 5.1 billion dirhams, Belgium 4.5 billion dirhams, and Oman 4.3 billion dirhams, Hong Kong SAR 4.04 billion, and China with a value of 4.3 billion dirhams.

Gold, raw or semi-worked, topped the list of the most important commodities in the UAE’s non-oil foreign trade with a value of 84.4 billion dirhams, accounting for 17% of the total non-oil foreign trade, followed by diamonds with a value of 40 billion dirhams, telephone and communication devices with a value of 37 billion dirhams, mineral oils with a value of 24.6 billion dirhams, and jewelry Jewelry worth 21 billion dirhams and cars worth 19.5 billion dirhams.

The total non-oil foreign trade of the UAE with the Gulf Cooperation Council countries amounted to 64.8 billion dirhams, with a growth of 13%, and with other Arab countries with a value of 49.5 billion dirhams, with a growth of 9.9%, and with non-Arab Asian countries with a value of 202.3 billion dirhams, with a growth of 40.5%, and non-Arab African countries with 54 billion dirhams. With a growth of 10.8%, European countries 85.2 billion dirhams, a growth of 17%, the American countries 38.4 billion dirhams, a growth of 7.7%, and the peripheral countries 5.2 billion dirhams, a growth of 1.04%.

SOURCE: globeecho.com