Dubai's nine-month total trade exceeds $221bn

Dubai's total non-oil trade exceeded AED814bn ($221.6bn) at the end of third quarter in 2011, an increase by 23 percent compared to the same period of 2010, a senior official said on Tuesday. Ahmed Butti Ahmed, executive chairman of Ports, Customs & Free Zone Corporation, and director general of Dubai Customs said that the rise in  trade reflected the emirate's "strong and dynamic economy". "There are certain factors that stood behind this growth. The UAE market accessibility to international markets, and the growing purchasing power have all contributed to the increase in the imports volume," he said in a statement. He added that Dubai's non-oil direct foreign trade also achieved strong growth in the first nine months of 2011 and was higher now than before the global financial crisis hit in 2009. According to latest data on Dubai's direct foreign trade issued by Dubai Customs, imports increased by 21 percent, exports by 43 percent in exports and 18 percent in re-exports in the first nine months of 2011. "Dubai sophisticated modern infrastructure, the advanced services at sea and air ports together with the customs facilitations available to all land, sea and air customs ports have contributed considerably to achieve such positive results in Dubai foreign trade," Butti added. India topped the list of exporting to Dubai, followed by China, the US, Japan and the UK. In all, the top five exporting countries to Dubai exceeded AED154bn, nearly half of the total trade. India also topped the importing list, followed by Switzerland and Saudi Arabia. Gold topped the list of products in both imports and exports while diamonds was the most popular product for re-exports.