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Dubai non-oil trade hits Dh344b in Q3

The Dubai non-oil economy continued to witness strong economic progress despite challenging regional and global economic conditions.
The emirate's non-oil foreign trade hit Dh344 billion in the third-quarter of 2017, an increase of 13 per cent year-on-year from Dh305 billion in the corresponding quarter of last year. Re-exports were the key driver of growth in the quarter, rising 34 per cent to Dh103 billion, a relatively strong performance given the challenging geopolitical backdrop.
Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Executive Council of Dubai, said: "Dubai's resilience to external economic turbulence demonstrates the strong fundamentals of its economy and its ability to constantly find new avenues for growth. Sustainability along with innovation and diversification are deeply embedded in Dubai's economic strategies as well as its key initiatives."
He said: "New projects together with the hosting of Expo 2020 promise to provide another strong boost to its economic vitality. Dubai is well-positioned to further enhance its growth momentum in the years ahead."
Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, chairman of Ports, Customs and Free Zone Corporation, said: "During this challenging year, the Dubai economy has maintained its high competitiveness. Trading in Dubai continues to grow despite the economic and geopolitical challenges in the region. Our aim is to continue to build on our success. We strive to further improve efficiencies and remove bottlenecks to allow business to prosper."
Dubai saw growth across all three trade components - direct, free zones, customs warehouses - with free zone trade growing by a significant 21 per cent in the quarter, direct trade by nine per cent and customs warehouses by eight per cent.
Similarly, Dubai saw growth across all modes of cargo with air, land and sea growing by 12 per cent, 15 per cent and 13 per cent, respectively. Value traded through sea reached Dh124 billion, air Dh153 billion and land Dh67 billion.
Dubai's non-oil foreign trade volumes grew by 5.1 per cent to 23.4 million tonnes in the third quarter of 2017. This was driven primarily by export cargo, which grew 11.4 per cent year-on-year in the third quarter and import cargo, which grew 5.2 per cent year-on-year.
Nine-month trade
In the nine-month period to September 30, 2017, Dubai non-oil foreign trade grew by 3.5 per cent year-on-year to Dh985 billion with re-exports being the key growth driver. Imports remain the largest segment with Dh592 billion in value. Nine-month trade by weight declined marginally by 2.9 per cent to 68.8 million tonnes.
Trading with Dubai's top ten partners remained robust as it grew 2.4 per cent in the first nine months of the year to Dh497 billion.
China remains the largest trading partner, accounting for more than 25 per cent of the trade (Dh128.9 billion). India (Dh74.1 billion) and the US (Dh62.4 billion) remained in the top three with Saudi Arabia (Dh44.7 billion) being the largest trading partner within the region.
Dubai remains a key trading hub for electronics and jewellery as transactions in mobile phones reached Dh127 billion in the first nine months, followed by gold (Dh120 billion), diamonds (Dh75 billion), and motors (Dh52 billion).
-waheedabbas@khaleejtimes.com