ABU DHABI: Federal Customs Authority (FCA) showed an increase in the UAE direct total foreign non-oil trade value, amounting to Dh524.7 billion during the first half of 2014, of which imports amounted to Dh340.1 billion, the exports to Dh63.3 billion, and the re-exports to Dh121.4 billion.
The FCA announced in a press statement on that the UAE has continued to strengthen its pre-eminent position on the world trade map, and expand the role it plays in facilitating trade between countries during the first half of this year driven by the increase of activity in all economic sectors, and the improvement of the state’s competitiveness in many global indicators.
UAE direct total foreign non-oil trade reached 86.4 million tons during the first half of the year, 33.74 million tons of which were imports, 47.1 million tons were exports and 5.6 million tons were re-exports. FCA declared that the daily average of custom weight processed by the different customs ports in foreign non-oil trade items in terms of export, import and re-export amounted to about 360,000 tons per day, on the basis of official working hours (eight hours a day, five days a week), with an average of 45,000 tons per hour.
FCA added that the state’s foreign non-oil trade was relatively growing more stable during the first half of the year.FCA confirmed that the UAE is keen to facilitate global trade and remove all the customs and non-customs obstacles facing the trade movement with other countries, contributing therefore to strengthening international bilateral relations, achieving the aspirations of the citizens and meeting the growing needs of consumers, while seeking to protect the community from unsound trade practices, and to maintain the economic interests of the business sector both locally and abroad.
FCA stated that it adopts several initiatives aiming at achieving growth in the state’s foreign non-oil trade and facilitating trade, particularly developing customs procedures and policies, developing the electronic systems, reducing the customs clearance time, managing the customs clearance, providing statistical data and information, addressing the trade obstacles, conducting international studies about global best practices, providing customs training, and enhancing the competitiveness indicators in the customs’ work.
With regard to the UAE’s trading partners map in the field of direct foreign trade, the FCA noted in its press statement that the regional structure of the trading partners of the UAE in the field of non-oil trade was stable in terms of countries’ quotas, where Asia, Australia and the Pacific region maintained their position on the top of the list of the UAE’s non-oil trading partners with 42 per cent of the total non-oil trade value, followed by the European region with 27 per cent, the MENA region with 15 per cent, America and the Caribbean with 9 per cent, Central Africa with 4 per cent, and finally East and South Africa with 3 per cent.
Concerning imports at the regional level, the statistics showed that 42 per cent of the UAE imports during the first half of 2014 came from Asia, Australia and the Pacific region, amounting to Dh141.9 billion, followed by the European Region with 29 per cent and a value of Dh96.9 billion, America and the Caribbean region with 13 per cent and a value of Dh44.3 billion, the MENA region with 8 per cent and a value of Dh27.1 billion, the West and Central Africa region with 4 per cent and a value of Dh15 billion and finally the East and South Africa region with 3 per cent and a value of Dh9.3 billion of the total imports.
FCA explained, in terms of the non-oil exports during the first half of this year, that the MENA region represents the first market for non-oil exports of the UAE, being at the top of the countries importing UAE goods with 37 per cent and a value of Dh23 billion of total UAE exports.
In second place come Asia, Australia and the Pacific region with 33 per cent and a value of Dh20.7 billion, followed by the European region with 23 per cent and a value of Dh14 billion, the East and South Africa region with 3 per cent and a value of Dh1.6 billion, then America and the Caribbean region with 2.3 per cent and a value of Dh1.5 billion, and finally West and Central Africa region with 1.7 per cent and a value of Dh1.1 billion of UAE total exports.
The FCA noted that concerning the re-export statistics for the first half of this year, Asia, Australia and the Pacific region came on top of the list of the most important trading partners in terms of re-export with 46 per cent equivalent to Dh53.4 billion of the UAE total non-oil re-exports, followed in second place by the European region with 23 per cent and a value of Dh26.6 billion, the MENA region with 22 per cent and a value of Dh25.3 billion, then the West and Central Africa region with 4 per cent and a value of Dh4.4 billion, the East and South Africa with 3 per cent and a value of Dh3.3 billion, and finally, America and the Caribbean region with 2 per cent equivalent to Dh2.7 billion of the UAE total non-oil re-exports.