Abu Dhabi’s non oil trade grew 24.2% YoY in March on the back of higher imports of machinery and transport equipment as construction of oil and gas projects take momentum.

The monthly data published by Statistics Centre Abu Dhabi showed that the value of non oil merchandise trade in March 2012 totalled AED 13.52 billion with imports valuing AED h10.79 billion, 79.8% of the total. Non oil exports were seen at AED 1.83 billion and re exports at AED 0.90 billion.

According to the data, total non oil merchandise trade surged 8.8% MoM in March, resulting from an increase of 15.1% in imports. However, re exports valuing AED 320 million or 14.6% dropped in the month while non oil exports remained largely unchanged. A YoY comparison shows, a growth of 24.2% in total non oil merchandise trade with imports rising by 20.3% exports by 100% while the value of re exports dropped 13.6%.

Imports in March rose largely due to an increase of 22.4% in manufactured goods, classified chiefly by material and 7.6% surge in machinery and transport equipment. A 14.6% drop in non oil exports due to a decline of 24.5% in chemicals and related products.

A comparison of YoY data for March 2012 indicates a rise of 20.3% in imports, as AED 870 million worth 18.9% more machinery and transport equipment was imported along with manufactured goods, classified chiefly by material worth AED 640 million or 31.9%.

Non oil exports rose by over 100% reflecting increases of AED 0.88 billion in chemicals and related products and 49.2% in manufactured goods, classified chiefly by material. Re exports dropped 13.6% due to less re export of machinery and transport equipment and miscellaneous manufactured items.

The top countries of origin for imports were USA, South Korea and Saudi Arabia. These three countries accounted for 41.6% of Abu Dhabi’s total imports in March 2012.

Source - Khaleej Times.com

(www.steelguru.com)