Saudi-UAE nonoil trade touches AED 2.3 bn

Saudi Arabia was the top trade partner of the UAE in the GCC during January 2012, Federal Customs Agency (FCA) sources said yesterday.
FCA said the total foreign nonoil trade of the UAE with the GCC hit AED 6.1 billion during January, including AED 2.2 billion in imports, AED 1.6 billion in exports and AED 2.3 billion in re-exports.
Of this, the total Saudi-UAE trade touched AED 2.3 billion. Oman came second with AED 1.6 billion, followed by Kuwait with AED 808 million, Bahrain with AED 681 million and Qatar with AED 673 million.
"Meanwhile, the total foreign trade between the UAE and Arab countries hit AED 10.4 million in January, including AED 4.5 billion in imports, AED 2.4 billion in exports and AED 3.4 billion in re-exports," the agency added.
In general, the total nonoil foreign trade of the UAE in January 2012 was AED 78.3 billion as compared to AED 72.3 billion during the same month last year showing an increase of six billion dirhams and a growth rate of eight percent.
The UAE nonoil exports increased by AED 2.7 billion from AED 7.8 billion in January 2011 to AED 10.1 billion in January 2012, growing by 30 percent in spite of the unfavorable political and economic circumstances in the region and the world, the primary statistics of the Federal Customs Agency (FCA) indicated.
During the same month, imports increased by 11 percent, raising the UAE nonoil imports from AED 46.8 billion in January 2011 to AED 52.1 billion in January 2012. The re-exports slightly declined by AED 1.4 billion to reach AED 16.2 billion in the same month last year.
The region of Asia, Australia and Pacific come on top of the array of UAE commercial partners in the area of nonoil foreign trade, as the volume of its trade with UAE reached AED 36.8 billion, 48 percent of total trade volume. Next is Europe region with a share of AED 18.2 billion, constituting 24 percent of total trade. The North Africa & Middle East region comes next with a share of AED 10.1 billion, 13.15 percent of total trade, and the American and Caribbean region with a share of AED 7.6 billion, 10 percent.
Then follows the East and South Africa region with a share of AED 2.2 billion, 3 percent. Lastly comes the region of West and Middle Africa, which shared by AED 2 billion, 3 percent of the total volume of foreign trade of the same month.