Abu Dhabi’s non-oil foreign trade climbs to USD 33 billion in H1 2022

Abu Dhabi’s non-oil foreign trade grows by 12%, with Saudi Arabia, Switzerland and the US as the emirate’s top trading partners.

Abu Dhabi’s non-oil foreign trade reached approximately USD 33 billion over H1 2022. This is compared to approximately USD 30 billion over the same period in 2021, for a growth rate of 12%.

Non-oil foreign trade: Exports and re-exports

Exports during the first six months of this year increased by 26%, at a value of approximately USD 13.5 billion, compared to USD 10.6 billon during the same period in 2021. Re-export activities increased to 6% at a value of USD 6.4 billion compared to last year.

The value of the trade-in commodities from non-precious metals and their products increased to USD 6.6 billion, with a growth rate of 22%, compared to USD 5.4 billion.

The trade in sound and image machinery and broadcasting equipment and their accessories recorded growth of 23%. The trade in pearls, gemstones, precious metals and their products increased by 40%.

Non-oil foreign trade partners

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was Abu Dhabi’s largest trade partner, increasing to USD 7.7 billion, a growth rate of 3%. Saudi was followed by Switzerland with a total value of USD 2.6 billion, representing a growth of 260% compared to last year. The US, China and Kuwait rounded out the top five trade partners.

Customs services expanding

Rashed Lahej Al Mansoori, Director-General, General Administration of Customs, Abu Dhabi Customs, said, “Abu Dhabi Customs continues to walk steadily towards achieving its vision to be a World-Class Customs Authority, leading change effort to enhance security, facilitate trade and provide distinguished services, constantly prompting to invest in advanced technologies that rely on digital technologies and artificial intelligence, which effectively contributes to saving time and effort for customers, and supports their choice of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi to be a destination for their operations.”

He added that Abu Dhabi Customs continued to develop proactive strategic services that had contributed effectively to the development of the customs system across land borders and sea and air ports to facilitate customs inspections. This led to a positive effect on cooperation with strategic partners concerning the increase of the value of commercial exchanges and their growth during the first half of the year compared to the same period in 2021, according to Al Mansoori.

The importance of accurate data

Ahmed Mahmoud Fikri, Director-General of Statistics Centre-Abu Dhabi, said, “Foreign trade statistics represent a major axis of the decision-making and policies due to the accurate data it provides that are used to set a detailed picture of the whole performance of the economy. In this context, the Statistics Centre, Abu Dhabi, looks forward to developing an advanced statistical system that consolidates continuous cooperation with statistical work partners from producers and users of statistical data to provide continuous support to decision policymakers in the Emirate.”

A recent UN report highlighted a 15% rise in global trade over Q1 2022, but warned of a coming slowdown.