UAE-China Non-Oil Trade grew 78.5% over 10 years; FCSC Report

By Rahul Vaimal, Associate Editor
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According to the figures released by the Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Centre (FCSC), non-oil trade between the UAE and China increased by 78.5 percent from 2012 to 2021, totaling $60.85 billion (AED223.5 billion) by the end of 2021 compared to $34.06 billion (AED125.1 billion) in 2012.

FCSC reveals that during this reporting period, the total value of their non-oil trade exceeded $468.28 billion (AED1.72 trillion), including imports valued at $416.55 billion (AED1.53 trillion), non-oil exports valued at $17.42 billion (AED64 billion), and re-exports valued at $32.94 billion (AED121 billion).

The figures also showed that the non-oil trade exchange between the UAE and China in the first half of 2022 totaled $32.24 billion (AED118.4 billion), consisting of imports valued at $27.96 billion (AED102.7 billion), non-oil exports valued at $1.5 billion (AED5.5 billion), and re-exports valued at $2.67 billion (AED9.8 billion).

The year 2017 recorded the highest trade exchange in the last decade worth $53.25 billion (AED195.6 billion), a rise of 15 percent compared to 2016.

Major Sectors 

Telecommunications devices topped the list of goods imported from China over the past year, amounting to $19.06 billion (AED70 billion), followed by data processing equipment at $6.43 billion (AED23.6 billion), medical vaccines at $1.12 billion (AED4.1 billion), display screens at $680,000 (AED2.5 billion), and headphones and amplifiers at $680,000 (AED2.5 billion).

In the list of top five goods exported to China, ethylene polymers came in the first place with $1.09 billion (AED4 billion), followed by propylene polymers with $517,290 (AED1.9 billion), rapeseed oil with $381,160 (AED1.4 billion), copper scraps with $163.35 million (AED600 million), and residues of fatty oil extraction with $155.19 million (AED570 million).

In last year’s list of re-exports to China, telecommunications devices came in the first place with $2.26 billion (AED8.3 billion), followed by data processing equipment with $569,014 (AED2.09 billion), vehicles with some $408,380 (AED1.5 billion), raw nickel with $353,930 (AED1.3 billion), and car accessories with $163.35 million (AED600 million).

Related: 5-fold increase in exports to the UAE after CEPA; Indian Ministry Report

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