Dubai's trade with global allies jumped by 30 per cent between 2006 and 2007, with India and China dominating the market, new government data have revealed.

The emirate's trade picked up from Dh510 billion in 2006 to Dh663 billion last year, an "impressive gain" from a slower growth of 11 per cent in 2006, Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry said in a report yesterday.

The emerging markets of India and China held a combined share of nearly a quarter – 23 per cent – of Dubai's total trade in 2007 while the emirate's other eight largest trading partners had combined share of 31 per cent.

According to the report, trade with India – Dubai's top trading partner – registered a slump in 2006 before re-surging last year, while trade with China has continued to increase during the two-year period.

"The slump in Dubai's imports from and re-exports to [India] in 2006, as well as imports of the free zones, had been more significant than the 33 per cent increase in Dubai's exports to India. During the year, India had contributed negatively to the growth of total trade of Dubai," the chamber said.

It added that despite the trade flow rebounds in 2007, India's 3.1 per cent average contribution to growth was only second in rank to China.

Total trade with China grew at an accelerating rate during that period, mainly due to direct imports of Dubai and its free zones. "Although China is second to India in terms of total trade value, it contributed the highest share to growth of trade during the two-year period," Dubai Chamber said.

The data also showed Dubai's trade with the United States takes the number three spot in terms of value, while Japan and Iran are the emirate's fourth and fifth largest trade partners, respectively.

Dubai Chamber said the data indicate the strengthening of India, China, USA, Japan and Australia as import markets while the emirate's trade with its large European markets weakens.

Imports from the United Kingdom were relatively stationary during the last three years with slight declines, despite the country's growth in exports to Dubai, resulting in a slowdown in total trade.

Finland was the largest contributor to declines in total trade during the two-year period – its trade with Dubai dropped by 47 per cent in 2006 and continued to fall by 24 per cent last year.


The numbers

Dh663bn: worth of trade was done between Dubai and its global partners in 2007

23%: is the combined share of India and China in Dubai's total trade during the period