Khaleej Times reported that Dubai's non oil total trade, which includes direct trade, free zone trade, and customs warehouse trade, exceeded AED 814 billion at the end of third quarter in 2011, an increase of 23% YoY as compared to the same period of 2010 which reached AED 661 billion.
Mr Ahmed Butti executive chairman of Ports, Customs & Free Zone Corporation and also director general of Dubai customs said that the outstanding results reflect UAE’s strong and dynamic economy, apart from certain factors.
He added that "The UAE market accessibility to international markets, and the growing purchasing power have all contributed to the increase in the imports volume while the distinctive higher quality of UAE product together with the support to the national industry and facilities given to exporters have played a prominent role in increasing exports and opening new markets."
Explaining, Mr Butti said that Dubai non oil direct foreign trade has also achieved good growth in the first nine months of 2011 compared to same period of 2010 at AED 523 billion, to hit a roof that wasn't hit even before the world economic downturn that overshadowed the world in the past three years.
He added that "Free zone trade has also exceeded AED 287 billion compared to AED 234 billion in the same period last year and the warehouse trade achieved Dh4 billion compared to AED 2.4 billion."
Recent Customs statistics showed that the growth in the first nine months of the 2011 increased 21% to AED 326 billion in imports, 43% to AED 72 billion in exports and 18% to AED 125 billion in re exports compared to same period in 2010.
Mr Butti said that "Dubai sophisticated modern infrastructure, the advanced services at sea and air ports together with the customs facilitations available to all land, sea and air customs ports have contributed considerably to achieve such positive results in Dubai foreign trade."
He added that "Dubai Customs never fails to support its clients, exporters and importers and improve service delivery standards in order to maintain the gains achieved by the emirate as a key link for trade movement between east and west and enhance the country’s ability to attract investors from everywhere."
Meanwhile, India topped the list of exporting to Dubai with AED 66 billion or 20.25% of all other countries. China came second at AED 35.5 billion or 10.9%, followed by USA with AED 27 billion or 8.3%, Japan AED 12.9 billion or 3.95%, UK AED 12.65 billion or 3.88%. In all, the top five exporting countries to Dubai exceeded AED 154 billion which is more than 47%.
India also came first in importing from Dubai to exceed AED 28 billion, followed by Switzerland at AED 9.8 billion and Saudi Arabia at AED 2.9 billion.
As for re exports, India again topped the list with AED 44.3 billion, which made more than 35% of total re exports. Dubai's trade with the GCC countries has grown as well.
Oman topped the list of exporters to Dubai with AED 2.4 billion, followed by Saudi Arabia with around AED 2 billion and Kuwait and Bahrain third with around AED 865 million for each.
In exports, Dubai's biggest importer is Saudi Arabia at AED 2.9 billion, followed by Kuwait at AED 1.9 billion and Bahrain at about AED 610 million. Kuwait topped the list in re exports with AED 2.86 billion, Saudi Arabia came second with AED 2.66 billion and Oman with around AED 1.03 billion.
As of imports, the most important products constituting Dubai direct trade movement included unwrought, worked and semi manufactured gold, which came on the top of the list amounting AED 58.9 billion during the January to September 2011 period, followed by diamonds at AED 48.9 billion and jewellery and precious metals occupied the third place at AED 17 billion.
(Sourced from www.khaleejtimes.com)
