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Abu Dhabi Foreign
Trade Surged by
37.5pc in 2008

The total size of foreign trade that includes non-oil exports, re-exports and imports expanded to Dh102.8 billion in 2008, up from Dh74.8 billion in 2007.

The phenomenal growth in the foreign trade is linked to the 42.5 per cent rise in the value of commodity imports in 2008. The exports and re-exports grew by 7.8 per cent, and 11.1 per cent respectively.

A report issued by the Statistics Centre, Abu Dhabi, which has recently been established, said that the imports contributed 87.8 per cent to the total foreign trade, while non-oil exports and re-exports contributed 
6.1 per cent each.

The exports/imports ratio climbed from about seven per cent in 1999 to a peak of 31.5 per cent in 2005 and then declined in the two subsequent years, finally seen at 13.8 per cent in 2008.

The GCC nations had the largest chunk of non-oil exports, with a combined share of 45.4 per cent, followed by Asian countries with 35.2 per cent and other Arab countries 
11.6 per cent share.

The bulletin’s classification of imports by type of use, which serves as an indicator as to whether the economy is showing a trend towards consumption or investment, reveals growth in all segments but more pronounced in terms of value in the non-food consumer goods, which grew by 44.6 per cent to Dh54.3 billion in value in 2008, up against Dh37.5 billion in 2007.

Imports of these commodities accounted for 60.1 per cent of the total value of imports in 2008. Capital goods topped in terms of growth rate, which was as high as 54.8 per cent, making up 23.0 per cent of the value of imports in the year, while imports of intermediate goods showed the lowest percentage growth of 20.4 per cent.

The imports were dominated by the European Union, Asia, the GCC states, and the NAFTA countries.

The report showed a rise of Dh6 billion or 7.1 per cent in the value of re-exports, which matched non-oil exports and accounted for 7.1 per cent of the value of foreign trade on average, while exports excluding oil made up an average of 5.7 per cent.

Machinery, electrical appliances, audio and video recorders, reproducers and parts, transport vehicles and equipment and works of art “antiques” were the top items re-exported from Abu Dhabi constituting 71.2 per cent of the re-exports trade.

The re-exports were dominated by the GCC nations with a total share of Dh3.6 billion or 58.3 per cent, up from Dh2.9 billion in 2007, followed by Asian countries with 17.4 per cent share. Ten per cent of the re-exports found destinations in Arab countries, while 14.3 per cent of the goods were re-exported to other countries. 
— haseebhaider@khaleejtimes.com