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Abu Dhabi foreign trade posts strong Q1 growth

ABU DHABI - Re-exports from Abu Dhabi surged by an impressive 43.4 per cent in the first quarter of this year compared to the first quarter of last year, while non-oil export from the capital emirate rose by 4.1 in the same period, according to the latest bulletin issued by Statistics Centre- Abu Dhabi (SCAD).

However, the centre’s quarterly bulletin, released here on Monday, conceded that imports made up 83.1 per cent of Abu Dhabi’s non-oil foreign trade by value during the first quarter of this year.

The total value of Abu Dhabi’s non-oil foreign trade was 
Dh25.3 billion in the first quarter of the current year, marking a 9.7 per cent drop from Dh 28.1 billion recorded in the same period last year, the bulletin said.

The report attributes this dip to the decline in the value of commodity imports, which fell by 14.6 per cent. Even though Abu Dhabi has posted an impressive growth in re-exports and some rise in non-oil exports in the first quarter of 2010, imports still account for the lion’s share of the capital emirate’s foreign trade in the non-oil sector.

SCAD’s report shows that re-exports ranked as the second largest component of Abu Dhabi foreign trade by value, making up 10.5 per cent for the first quarter of 2010.

It also shows that capital goods constituted more than half of (50.3 per cent) the re-exported goods during the first quarter of 2010, registering a growth of 103.6 per cent compared with the first quarter of 2009.

According to SCAD’s report, non-oil exports contributed 6.4 per cent of the value of foreign trade in the first quarter of 2010. Most of the export groups like durables, semi-durables, non-durables and foodstuff showed positive growth at varying rates in this quarter.

The report reveals that US supplied 11.6 per cent of the Abu Dhabi imports in terms of the value during the first quarter of 2010, followed by Saudi Arabia (11.6 per cent), Japan (10.8 per cent), Germany (9.9 per cent), Italy (five per cent), France (4.6 per cent), UK (4.3 per cent ) and China (2.7 per cent).

Even though these countries accounted for the largest share of exports during the period, imports from these countries, particularly from Germany, France, US and Italy have declined compared to 2009 on a year-on-year basis.

On the other hand, imports from South Korea and Qatar showed a year-on-year growth of 15 per cent and 19.69 per cent respectively. Imports from the rest of the world accounted for 32.2 per cent of the total imports in the first quarter of 2010, growing at 6.5 per cent compared to the first quarter of 2009.

According to SCAD’sreport, Saudi Arabia ranked as the top country of destination for Abu Dhabi exports during the first quarter of 2010, receiving 17.3 per cent of the emirate’s imports during the period, followed by Oman (16.3 per cent) and Qatar (12.6 per cent).

However, exports to Saudi Arabia fell by 29.6 per cent compared with the first quarter of 2009, while non-oil exports to Oman, Qatar, Iran, Egypt, South Africa and Yemen registered positive growth during the reference period.

The main destination of Abu Dhabi re-exports was Bahrain, whose share of the emirate’s total re-exports was 30 per cent followed by Qatar (20.3 per cent), Saudi Arabia (13.2 per cent), Kuwait (7.2 per cent) and the Sultanate of Oman (5.1 per cent).

The GCC region purchased 75.9 per cent re-exports by value during the first quarter of 2010. The quarter saw a positive growth in re-exports to all GCC countries with the exception of Oman. In the case of Oman the figure tumbled by 48.5 per cent compared with the first quarter of the year 2009, the report said.

ramavarman@khaleejtimes.com