India, China Dominate UAE Trade.

India and China maintained their position as the dominant trading partners of the UAE in 2010, controlling more than a third of the country's total non-oil commercial exchange.

The two countries retained that position despite a 14 per cent increase in the UAE's non-oil trade to around Dh750.3 billion last year from nearly 658 billion in 2009, according to the government-controlled Emirates Industrial Bank (EIB).

Non-hydrocarbon exports leaped by nearly 39 per cent to Dh90.3 billon from around Dh65 billion while re-exports surged by 23.4 per cent to about Dh182 billion from Dh147.5 billion.

Imports swelled by about 7.3 per cent to Dh478 billion from nearly Dh445.5 billion in the same period, EIB said in its monthly bulletin.

"As the repercussions of the 2008 global financial distress begin to disappear, the world's trade has started to recover...the UAE is among the countries that have benefited most from that recovery as it was classified as among the 10 countries that are fueling growth in this sector," the study said.

A breakdown showed India and China maintained their status as the top commercial partners of the UAE, with India ousting China from the top position that it had held for years.

In 2010, the two countries accounted for nearly 33.5 per cent of the UAE's total non-oil trade, EIB said.

"India was the top partner of UAE, followed by China and the European Union...trade with the US also maintained its growth and reach around Dh51.5 billion following the launching of direct flights between the UAE and the US airports," EIB said.

Despite an increase of around 3.5 per cent in the UAE's trade with the other non-Gulf Arab countries, it is still a modest level as it accounted for only around seven per cent of the country's total non-oil trade. With the inclusion of the other GCC members, the level rises to around 14.2 per cent.

"Trade between the UAE and other Arab nations is expected to grow in the coming years with the enforcement of the GCC customs union and wider implementation of the Arab free trade zone."

Source : zawya.com