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Foreign Trade Shrinks Four Per Cent in January

The overall size of foreign trade was seen at Dh55 billion in January 2010, down from Dh57 billion level in the comparable period. In the month of January 2010, imports entering into the country were valued at Dh37 billion, while goods worth Dh5.6 billion were exported, and re-exports values exceeded Dh12.4 billion, according to statistics for the month of January released by the Federal Customs Authority or FCA Sunday. It said the foreign trade in terms of weight accounted for 5.8 million tonnes; including 3.7 million metric tonnes of imports, 1.3 million metric tonnes exports and remaining 0.8 million tonnes re-exports.

The Acting Director-General Khalid Ali Al Bustani termed the fall as “positive” if taken into account the magnitude of global economic crisis and the impact it had elsewhere.

The customs statistics on the volume of the country’s foreign trade have revealed a burgeoning growth in exports and re-exports. Exports grew remarkably by 21 per cent, increasing to Dh5.6 billion in January 2010 against Dh4.6 billion a year ago.

Re-exports grew by nine per cent, to rise from Dh 11.4 billion in January 2009 to Dh 12.4 billion in January 2010.

Imports plummeted by 10 per cent during the period between January 2009 to January 2010- from Dh 41 billion in January 2009 compared to Dh37 billion in January 2010.

“The rise in the volume of exports and the decline in the value of imports, reflects the improvement in the trade balance of the UAE with the world during the comparison period”, the acting Director General said, adding that it also confirms the growing competitive power of the UAE exports in the world’s markets, despite the implications of the global meltdown, during the last year.

The customs authorities handled 24000 metric tonnes of foreign trade consignments per day.

India, China, USA, Germany, Japan, United Kingdom, Italy, France, South Korea have consecutively held the top positions in the list of countries from which the UAE imported in January 2010- imports of UAE from these countries accounted for Dh23 billion, constituting 62 per cent of the total imports of the country.

India, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, Sultanate of Oman, Iran, Nepal, Iraq, Egypt, Kuwait and Qatar came respectively on top the list of the countries in field of non-oil exports. The value of non-oil exports between UAE and these countries stood at Dh 4.2 billion- representing 75 per cent of the total, while India, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Bahrain, Belgium, Qatar, Afghanistan, Sultanate of Oman and Kuwait have come respectively in the list of re-exports, at a value of Dh8.7 billion constituting 70 per cent of the total. — haseeb@khaleejtimes.com