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UAE’s foreign trade at Dh782.7b

The UAE’s foreign trade in the first nine months of 2012 touched Dh782.7 billion, compared to Dh684.9 billion for the same period in 2011, recording an increase by Dh97.8 billion, up by 10.5 per cent, the National Bureau of Statistics, or NBS, has announced.

The NBS said that imports stood at Dh494.5 billion in the first nine months of 2012 compared to Dh439.9 billion for the same period of 2011, an increase of 12.3 per cent.

The figures showed that exports amounted to Dh136.6 billion in the same period of 2012 compared to Dh84.4 billion for that in 2011, increasing by Dh51.2 billion, up by 61 per cent.

Meanwhile, re-exported commodities increased to Dh152.6 billion during the first nine months of 2012 compared to Dh160.6 billion for the same period in 2011, down by five per cent.

Non-Arab countries in Asia were the main trade partners of the UAE in the first nine months of 2012. “Non-Arab Asian countries ranked first amongst UAE trade partners with traded commodities amounting to Dh355.6 billion, 45 per cent of UAE-traded volume of commodities with the rest of the world,” the NBS said.

“The EU came second with a traded amount of Dh180.4 billion, constituting 23 per cent of the UAE’s trade exchange with other blocs. American countries came third with traded commodities worth Dh67.3 billion, recording 9.3 per cent, and the GCC came fourth with Dh65.6 billion at a ratio of eight per cent,” it added.