UAE remains largest Arab market

The UAE overtook Saudi Arabia to become the Arab region’s top market for goods and maintain its position as one of the world’s 30 largest importers in 2010, according to official data.

The UAE, the second largest Arab economy, was ranked 25th largest global importer of goods and 19th exporter in the world last year, becoming the only Arab nation to be among the top 30 markets, showed the figures by the Kuwaiti-based Inter-Arab Investment Guarantee Corporation (IAIGC).

The report, citing data by the World Trade Organization, showed the UAE accounted for nearly 1.1 per cent of the world’s total imports of goods of around $15.37 trillion and 1.5 per cent of the global exports of $15.23 trillion.

China, one of the fastest growing economies, overtook the United States for the first time as the world’s top exporter, with around $1.57 trillion last year, but remained behind the US by imports. The figures showed the US imports totalled around $1.96 trillion while those of China stood at 1.39 trillion.

As for total trade, the report showed the UAE’s commercial exchange stood at around $405 billion, the largest in the Arab region after overtaking Saudi Arabia as the long-standing trading hub in the Arab world.

The UAE had been second to Saudi Arabia in the Arab world in terms of commercial exchange before it overtook the Kingdom in 2009 mainly because of slow growth in Saudi Arabia’s imports and steep decline in its oil exports due to lower crude prices and a cut of more than one million bpd in Riyadh’s oil supply.

A large part of the UAE’s non-oil trade is handled by Dubai, the region’s commercial entrepot which handles over 20 per cent of the Gulf non-oil trade.

The UAE maintained its strong global status in terms of imports in 2009 despite a decline in its imports of goods because of slower domestic demand after several years of a steady growth before it was reversed by the global crisis.

The report by IAIGC, a key Arab League establishment, showed Germany was the world’s third largest exporter of goods in 2010, with a value of around $1.26 trillion. It was followed by Japan, with $770 million, Netherlands with about $572 million, France with $521 million and South Korea with $466 million.

Other major exporters by order of their export value included Italy, Belgium, Britain, Hong Kong, Russia, Canada, Singapore and Mexico.

Germany was also the third importer of goods, with a value of around $1.057 trillion. It was followed by Japan with around $692 billion, France with $606 million, Britain with $558 billion and Netherlands with $517 billion.

Other major importers included Italy, Hong Kong, South Korea, Canada, Belgium, India, Spain, Singapore and Mexico.

The report showed China accounted for 10.4 per cent of the world’s exports last year while the US accounted for 9.4 per cent and Germany for 8.3 per cent.

The US accounted for 12.8 per cent of the global imports of goods while China accounted for 9.1 per cent and Germany for 6.9 per cent.

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