Abu Dhabi (Al Ittihad)
His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, may God protect him, affirmed that the UAE continues to achieve unprecedented historical figures in its non-oil foreign trade, thanks to the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the State, may God protect him.
His Highness added: “Several years ago, we announced our national economic goals… and announced that our foreign trade target for the year 2031 is AED 4 trillion annually… a goal that represented a major challenge at the time… and today we received the figures for the first half of 2024… where our exports in just 6 months reached what we used to export in a whole year before “Corona” in 2019… and our foreign trade approached AED 1.4 trillion in six months, with a 25% growth in our non-oil exports… and our goal is to achieve AED 3 trillion in non-oil foreign trade by the end of this year, God willing.”
His Highness said: “Our economic relations with various countries have been strengthened, as our trade with India increased by 10%… with Turkey by 15%… and with Iraq by 41%… to become the first destination for Emirati exports, followed by India, Turkey and others.”
His Highness added: “At a time when the global growth rate of foreign trade reached about 1.5%… the growth in our foreign trade reached 11.2% annually… as we move rapidly towards our goals.”
His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum said: “Thanks to God, His guidance and support… and with the follow-up of my brother, the President of the State, and his support and building of distinguished international relations with countries of the world… and with the efforts of thousands of work teams from the public and private sectors, the march continues… and the caravan moves on… and the flag rises high… and the country and the region prosper, God willing… and our future is higher, more refined and more sublime, God willing.”
The most prominent achievements of foreign trade during the first half of 2024
In detail, the country’s non-oil foreign trade continued its upward trajectory in the first half of 2024, which it began years ago, and continued to increase its semi-annual gains to a record level above the trillion dirham barrier, which it had crossed for the first time in the second half of 2021.
The UAE’s foreign trade data during the first half of 2024 reflects the strong performance of exports, which were able to increase their share of total foreign trade to 18.4%, while non-oil exports with the top 10 trading partners grew by 33.4%, and the rest of the countries grew by 12.6%. During the first half of 2024, Iraq received nearly four times more non-oil UAE exports than it received during the same period in 2023, while exports to India increased by 54.9% and Turkey by 9%, thanks to the comprehensive economic partnership agreements linking the UAE with both countries.
Gold, jewellery, cigarettes, oils, aluminium, copper wires, printed matter, silver, iron industries and perfumes topped the list of the country’s most important exports during the first half of 2024. These goods together achieved a growth of 36.8% compared to the same period in 2023, while the rest of the goods recorded a growth of 1%.
The value of re-exports amounted to AED 345.1 billion during the first half of 2024, with a growth rate of 2.7% compared to the same period in 2023, and an increase of 11.2% and 40% compared to the same periods in 2022 and 2021, respectively. Re-exports recorded remarkable growth with the country’s most important trading partners, especially Saudi Arabia, Iraq, India, the United States, Kuwait and Qatar, while Kazakhstan joined the list of the country’s most important re-export partners, with a growth rate that nearly doubled. Overall, re-exports achieved a growth of 7.6% with the country’s top 10 trading partners. Telephones and diamonds were the two most important re-exported commodities, but the largest growth rate was in the re-export of aircraft parts, cars, freight vehicles and telephones.
As for the country’s imports of non-oil goods, they approached AED 800 billion during the first half of 2024, with a growth of 11.3%, compared to the same period in 2023 and an increase of 34.6%, compared to the same period in 2022. UAE imports from most major markets increased during the first half of 2024, as the top 10 markets from which the UAE imports witnessed a growth of 7.2%, with a share exceeding 48.7% of the country’s total imports. In contrast, the rest of the countries, which account for 51.3% of UAE imports, achieved a growth of 15.4% in the first half of 2024, compared to the same period in 2023.
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