UAE ranks 9th in exports of creative goods

23/03/2017 06:58 AST

In a recent study issued by the Department of Industry and Trade Information Analysis at the Ministry of Economy, global export of creative goods grew to approximately $538 billion in 2015, acquiring 3.3 per cent of the world’s total export of merchandise for the same year.

In line with these findings, the UAE has been positioned in ninth place in the global list of total recorded exports and re-exports of creative goods, valued at $16.1 billion and accounting for three percent of the world’s total exports of creative goods. Meanwhile, the total value of the foreign trade of creative industries was recorded at $30.7 billion in 2015, reflecting a seven percent increase in the UAE’s non-oil trade activities.

Among Arab countries, the UAE accounts for more than 75 per cent of the total value of Arab exports of creative goods. According to the World Trade Centre, the value of Arab countries’ exports for 2015 is estimated to be close to $21 billion.

In terms of calculating the contribution of creative exports and the total exports of the top 10 countries, the UAE ranked in first place with a contribution of more than 10 percent of its total non-oil exports and re-exports during 2015, surpassing Italy, India and China at 8.2, 8.0, and 7.5 per cent respectively.

The study pointed out that exports of national origin accounted for 41 per cent of the total exports and re-exports of the UAE’s creative industries commodities during the year 2015, noting that the preliminary data for the period from January to September 2016 amounted to 38 per cent, and that national exports of creative commodities has achieved a growth of 120 percent in 2015 as compared to 2014.

The study also revealed that UAE imports of creative industries commodities geographically concentrated in 2015 were from India with 17.4 per cent, followed by Malaysia at 12.3 per cent, China 11.5 per cent, France 10 per cent and Italy at 8.9 per cent. The top 10 countries accounted for 79.0 per cent of the UAE’s total imports of creative goods.

The Gulf Today