UAE top Mideast market for Japan

The UAE maintained its position as the largest Middle East market for Japanese products while Saudi Arabia emerged as the top regional exporter to that country, according to official Japanese data.

The figures by the Japan External Trade Organization (Jetro) also showed exports to Japan by the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) declined slightly in the first two months of 2013 after a steady growth over the past decade due to strong oil prices.

Jetro’s figures showed the UAE’s imports from Japan stood at around $1.3 billion (Dh4.77 billion) in the first two months of 2013, the largest in the Middle East.

Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest crude exporter, was the second top regional importer from Japan, with the value of its imports standing at $1.1 billion (Dh4.03 billion).

The report showed the Kingdom was the largest Middle East exporter to Japan with a value of around $9.11 billion (Dh33.4 billion). It was followed by the UAE, with its exports to the southeast Asian industrial giant standing at about $7.53 billion (Dh27.6 billion) in the first two months of 2013.

Imports by Oman from Japan stood at $0.49 billion while they were estimated at $0.3 billion by Kuwait, $0.26 billion by Qatar and $0.11 billion by Bahrain.

Exports to Japan stood at $6.85 billion by Qatar, around $2.49 billion by Kuwait, $0.89 billion by Oman and $0.69 billion by Bahrain.

The report showed the GCC’s combined exports to Japan fell slightly to $27.56 billion in the first two months of 2013 from $27.82 billion in the first two months of 2012. Japan’s exports to the GCC also edged down to $3.56 billion from $3.93 billion.

In the first two months of this year, the GCC’s exports to Japan accounted for nearly 94 per cent of the Middle East’s total exports to that country while GCC imports from Japan amounted for 89 per cent of the Middle East’s total imports from that country.

GCC’s exports to Japan surged to an all time high of $157.4 billion in 2012 from around $141.8 billion in 2011 because of higher oil prices.

The group’s imports from the Asian nation also shot up to nearly $29.02 billion from around $19.5 billion in the same period.

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