Non-oil trade crosses Dh1trn

Dubai’s total non-oil foreign trade in the first 10 months of 2012 crossed Dh1 trillion mark for the first time in its history compared to Dh911 billion for the same period of 2011, registering a growth of 13 per cent.

Ahmed Butti Ahmed, Executive Chairman of Ports, Customs and Free Zone and Director General of Dubai Customs said non-oil trade figures include direct trade, free zones trade and warehouse customs trade.

He said steady growth of Dubai's trade with the world reflecting recovery of the domestic economy driven by the performance of key sectors, notably foreign trade, and coincides with the emirate of Dubai launching many new development projects in the economic, recreational and real estate areas.

Dubai's imports during January to October 2012 were valued at Dh609bn compared to Dh549bn for the same period last year, while exports and re-exports amounted to Dh420bn compared to Dh363bn in the same period last year.

Butti asserted that Dubai Customs continues launching more services and systems that accelerate customs clearance procedures and save time and effort for the authority and the clients simultaneously, with overcoming obstacles that may challenge any of the different work sectors, through periodic business meetings the authority holds with representatives of these sectors to recognize their business development proposals.

According to statistics issued by the Statistics Section, India has come atop the list of major trading partners for Dubai during the first ten months of the current year as its total trade exchange valued at Dh127bn followed by China with trade worth Dh94bn, Switzerland with Dh73 bn, the United States came as the fourth trade partner with commercial exchanges worth Dh59bn, and Turkey in the fifth place with Dh42bn. This value of Dubai's trade with these five countries is Dh395bn, representing 38.5 per cent of Dubai's total non-oil foreign trade.

Gold topped the list of Dubai's imports with Dh113bn, followed by communications networks equipment worth Dh42bn, diamonds worth Dh38bn, jewellery and precious metals worth Dh34bn and cars worth Dh26bn.

Gold also ranked first on the list of the most prominent exports with a value of Dh89bn, followed by diamonds with a value of Dh12bn, jewellery and precious metals with a value of Dh5bn, oil with a value of Dh4bn, and aluminium with a value of Dh4bn.

According to figures released by the Statistics Section in Dubai Customs, communications networks equipment topped re-export products valued at Dh40bn, followed by diamond at Dh27bn, jewellery and precious metals at Dh18bn, equipment and IT hardware at Dh15bn, and gold came in the fifth place with a value of Dh13bn.

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