Emirates Business 24/7 reported that the UAE maintained its position as the largest Gulf market for Japanese products in the first 5 months of 2012 while it emerged as the second regional exporter to the Asian giant.
The figures by the government's Japanese External Trade Organization showed that exports to Japan by the 6 nation Gulf Cooperation Council surged by nearly 28% during that period because of strong oil prices. From around USD 2.53 billion in the first 5 months of 2011, Japan's exports to the UAE soared to USD 3.81 billion in the first 5 months of 2012. The UAE's exports to Japan, mostly crude oil, gas and aluminum also swelled from around USD 16.4 billion to USD 19.24 billon in the same period.
Saudi Arabia emerged as the top Gulf exporter to Japan with a total value of around USD 24.73 billion in the first 5 months of 2012 compared with nearly USD 20 billion in the first 5 months of 2011. But it was the second largest importer from Japan with a value of USD 3.48 billion in the first 5 months against USD 2.31 billion in the same period of 2011.
The report showed that the GCC's combined exports to Japan swelled by around 28% to about USD 70.08 billon from around USD 54.63 billion. The group's imports from the Asian nation also grew to nearly USD 10.63 billion from around USD 6.45 billion in the same period.
The surge in the exports widened the GCC's trade surplus with their main economic and commercial partner from around USD 48.2 billion in the first 5 months of 2011 to nearly USD 59.4 billion in the first 5 months of 2012.
The report showed that Qatar, the world's third largest gas power, emerged as the third exporter to Japan in the Middle East because of a sharp rise in its LNG sales to that market over the past few years. Its exports soared to nearly USD 15.78 billion in the first 5 months from about USD 11 billion in the same period of 2011.
Kuwait's exports to Japan, mostly crude oil, also shot up to around USD 7 billion from USD 4.8 billion while those of Oman expanded to USD 3.17 billion from USD 2.1 billion. Exports by Bahrain, a small trade partner of Japan with limited hydrocarbon resources declined to USD 141 million from USD 190 million. But its imports from Japan swelled to USD 335 million from around USD 149 million.
Massive oil supplies have kept the GCC Japan trade balance largely in favor of the 31 year old Gulf alliance with the surplus peaking at nearly USD 117 billion in 2008. It stood at about USD 122 billion last year.
Japan gets more than 80% of its oil needs from the GCC, Iran, Iraq and other Middle Eastern crude producers. Saudi Arabia and the UAE alone supply it with more than two million bpd, nearly half its total oil imports.
Besides crude, the GCC's exports to Japan include aluminum, natural gas, LNG and petroleum products with the bulk of the aluminum supplies coming from Dubai and Bahrain. The GCC's imports from that country comprise mainly electronics, vehicles, machinery and other industrial products.
Source - Emirates Business 24/7
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