Strong oil prices boosted exports by the UAE and its five partners in the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) to Japan by more than 60 per cent in the first five months of 2008, official Japanese figures showed yesterday.
Their imports from Japan also surged by at least 20 per cent because of the low US dollar but the balance remained largely in four of the Gulf, showed the figures by the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO).
From around $36.46 billion (Dh133.8bn) in the first five months of 2007, the GCC's exports to Japan leaped by around 61 per cent to $58.3bn in the first five months of 2008, their highest ever five-monthly level, according to the report.
Their imports swelled by nearly 26 per cent from around $8.04bn to $10.1bn, making Japan one of the world's top exporters to the oil-rich Gulf.
The surge in their exports sharply widened the GCC's trade surplus with Japan from around $28.42bn to $48.1bn in the same period.
A breakdown showed all GCC members, excluding Bahrain, recorded sharp growth in their exports to Japan mainly because of the surge in oil prices.
Bahrain's exports to Japan were a fraction of the overall Gulf exports to that country and it was the only GCC member to record a deficit in its balance.
From around $12.6bn in the first five months of 2007, Saudi Arabia's exports to the Far Eastern industrial giant soared to $21.3bn in the first five months of 2008.
The UAE's exports also leaped from 12.82bn to $19.44bn, while Kuwait's exports jumped from $3.62bn to $5.87bn.
Qatar's exports to Japan shot up from $5.85bn to $9.6bn, an increase of nearly 65 per cent. Experts attributed this sharp growth to the oil price surge and Qatar's growing liquefied natural gas to Japan.
Oman's exports to the southeast Asian nation, the world's third largest oil consumer after the US and China, swelled from $1.37bn to $1.9bn. Bahrain's exports to Japan rose slightly from $202 million to $204m as the island nation does not supply Japan with crude given its limited oil wealth.
Japan imports more than 80 per cent 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 barrels per day, nearly half its total crude imports.
Experts said the surge in this year's exports by the GCC to Japan was mainly a result of higher prices on the grounds the quantity has remained almost unchanged.
According to Opec statistics, the price of the cartel's basket of 13 crudes soared to an average $100.5 a barrel in the first five months of this year compared with around $52 in the same period of last year. Besides crude, the GCC's exports to Japan include aluminum, natural gas, LNG and petroleum products. Their imports from that country comprise mainly electronics, vehicles, equipment, machinery, and other industrial products.
The six members have been locked in negotiations with Japan and other industrial giants for a free trade agreement, which they hope would support their drive to attract investment and diversify their economies.
Over the past two decades, Japan has remained the GCC's top trading partner and the largest importer of Gulf oil. China is rapidly catching up with Japan in trade exchange with the region and is projected to overtake it in the next years.