UAE non-oil trade rises by 5 percent to AED 76.6 b in February

The initial indicators of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) non-oil foreign trade showed higher growth at 5 percent in last February, raising the total non-oil trade with the outside world by AED 3.6 billion from AED 73 billion in February 2011 to AED 76.6 billion in February 2012. UAE non-oil exports made unprecedented leap in February 2012, the Federal Customs Authority (FCA) said in a press release. The growth rate reached 62 percent as exports edged up to AED 12.1 billion compared to AED 7.5 billion in last February; with an increase of AED 4.6 billion. In the same month, the non-oil imports rose by 8 percent from AED 45.9 billion in February to AED 49.5 billion last February; with an increase of AED 3.6 billion. The re-exports hit AED 15 billion in the same month. In terms of weight, the UAE total foreign trade hit about 7 million tons in February 2012: 3.7 million tons in imports, 2.5 million tons in exports and 742 thousand tons in re-exports, the FCA said. The daily average weight of the consignments (exported, imported and re-exported) processed by different customs outlets hit about 29 thousand tons a day (4 thousand tons per hour). The UAE trade partners remain in the same ranking in terms of importance, the FCA said in the press release. Asia-Pacific region retained its first place among the UAE top non-oil foreign trade partners with total trade of AED 34.5 billion with the UAE - 46 percent of the total trade. Europe came in the second place with AED 20.4 billion (27 percent) of the total trade followed by Middle East and North Africa with AED 10.1 billion (13 percent), America and the Caribbean with AED 6.2 b (8 percent) and Western and Central Africa region with AED 2.3 (3 percent) and COMESA with AED 1.8 b (2 percent) in the abovementioned month. The total of UAE non-oil foreign trade with the Gulf Council Countries (GCC) hit AED 6 billion in this February, the FCA said in the press release. This total consisted of AED 2.3 billion in exports, AED 1.4 billion in imports and AED 2.3 billion in re-exports. Saudi Arabia (KSA), the FCA said, kept its top place among the UAE trade partners from the GCC last February. The UAE total trade with the KSA reached AED 2.2 billion. Oman came in the second place with AED 1.5 billion followed by Qatar with AED 893 million, Kuwait with AED 824 million and finally Bahrain with AED 605 million. "The UAE total foreign trade with Arab countries hit AED 10.4 billion last February. This total is divided into AED 4.9 billion in imports; AED 1.9 billion in exports and AED 3.5 billion in re-exports", the FCA added. The initial statistics in this February showed that gold came at the top of the imported goods with AED 8.4 billion, followed by diamond with AED 3.4 billion, cars with AED 2.9 billion and jewelry with AED 2.3 billion, the FCA said. In February 2012, the FCA said, gold was the top among exported goods with AED 6.4 billion, followed by polyethylene and propylene polymers in crude forms with AED 1.7 billion, jewels and pieces of jewelry with AED 234 million and petroleum and other oils with AED 231 million. Diamond, the FCA indicated, came first in re-exports in February 2012 with AED 3.4 billion, followed by jewels and pieces of jewelry with AED 1.4 billion, cars with AED 1.2 billion and mobile phones with one billion dirham. The total trade of markets and free zones, the FCA said, hit AED 1.2 billion in February.