Gold lights up UAE non-oil trade in Q1

10/07/2016 05:12 AST

Gold and jewellery dominated UAE imports in the first quarter of 2016 with Dh24.5 billion or 15 per cent of total non-oil imports into the country.

With a share of seven per cent or Dh11.9 billion, cars ranked second followed by diamonds with Dh10.5 billion or six per cent, and telephone handsets came next with Dh9.1 billion or five per cent.

UAE non-oil export data shows that gold ranked first with a share of Dh12.6 billion, accounting for 27 per cent. With a share of Dh7.9 billion or 17 per cent, raw aluminum ranked second, showing the nation's economic diversification. Next came jewellery and precious stones with a share of Dh4.8 billion or 10.3 per cent, followed by polymers of ethylene with Dh4.5 billion or 9.6 per cent.

Diamonds ranked top among re-exports amounting to Dh11.5 billion or 20 per cent. Jewellry ranked second with Dh7.8 billion or 14 per cent. Next were cars with Dh4.1 billion, telephone handsets with Dh3.9 billion and aircraft parts with Dh1.4 billion.

The UAE's direct non-oil trade recorded Dh269.5 billion, maintaining almost the same figures achieved in the same period last year, the Federal Customs Authority said. The FCA said its preliminary statistics show that imports worth Dh166.1 billion accounted for more than half of the UAE's non-oil foreign trade during the first quarter this year, while exports recorded Dh46.8 billion and exports Dh56.6 billion in the same period.

Non-oil trade with GCC countries during the period accounted for nine per cent or Dh24.2 billion of the country's global trade. The UAE's non-oil foreign trade showed remarkable stability compared to same period last year, despite slowing global economic growth rates and declining imports and exports in several key strategic partner countries because of the oil price crisis that hit the global economy last year.

The UAE's wise policy of economic diversification and building sustainable national industries helped maintain the UAE's status as a world trade hub, and the trade gateway to the near and Middle East and North Africa, FCA chairman Ali Al Kaabi said.

Trade and customs logistics offered at UAE ports and land, air and marine posts, outperforming many regional and world counterparts, helped attract trade and keep foreign trade stable, Al Kaabi added. He also pointed out that the UAE rose to 13th internationally and first in the Middle East in the 2016 Logistics Performance Index published recently in the World Bank's report.

The UAE was among the world's leading countries in logistics, ahead of Canada, Finland, France, Denmark, Australia, China, South Korea and all Mena countries.

Khaleej Times