The UAE’s non-oil foreign trade stood at Dh1.172 trillion ($320 billion) during the first nine months of 2016 (January-September), compared to Dh1.170 trillion in the same period in 2015, showing a 0.1 per cent growth, a report said.

Preliminary data of the Federal Customs Authority, FCA, indicated that the share of imports in the UAE’s total non-oil trade amounted to Dh721.2 billion, compared to Dh713.1 billion during the same period in 2015, recording a rise of 1 per cent, reported Wam, the Emirates official news agency.

Native gold and semi-processed gold topped the list of imported goods, recording Dh89.6 billion - 12 per cent of the total non-oil imports.

Mobile phones bagged the second slot in the imports list with a value of Dh65.7 billion at 9 per cent; cars came third with a value of Dh 38.6 billion at 5.3 per cent and non-composite diamond came next with a value of Dh35.4 billion at 5 per cent, followed by petroleum oils recording Dh26.4 billion with 4 per cent of the total non-oil imports during the period.

Commissioner Ali Al Kaabi, head of FCA, said that the growth in the volume of the UAE’s direct non-oil trade, despite the trade decline witnessed by great economies across the world, reflects the country’s success in achieving economic diversification and affirms the improvement and competitiveness of national products in global markets.

He said that the UAE’s non-oil foreign trade growth reflects the importance of the country’s position in the world trade exchange map and its leadership as a regional trade centre and trade gateway.

"Non-oil trade activity reflects an improvement in the UAE’s trade balance with many countries and supports traders’ and investors’ confidence in the UAE economy. The near future holds new investment opportunities in the light of expansion, diversity and innovation policies adopted by the wise leadership," Al Kaabi added.

"The UAE’s direct non-oil foreign trade formed 69 per cent of the total volume of foreign trade, valued at Dh813.7 billion. The share of free-zone trade was 31 per cent and valued at Dh358 billion," he said.

Al Kaabi also noted that there was an increase in imports by 1 per cent and a significant increase in exports by 6 per cent, which reflect rise of the demand of national products.

He expected that the coming years would witness a great expansion of the national products within and outside the UAE in light of the new Federal Government strategy for the country in the post-oil era.

The FCA stated that the UAE’s exports grew by 6 per cent as it reached Dh149.1 billion, compared to Dh140.5 billion during the same period of 2015.

Gold exports came on top at a value of Dh43.3 billion, representing 29 per cent of the total non-oil exports, followed by raw aluminium with a value of Dh14.1 billion at 9.5 per cent, ornaments and jewellery with a value of Dh13.6 billion at 9 per cent, ethylene polymers in primary forms with a value of Dh9.5 billion at 6 per cent and cigarettes and cigars with a value of Dh6.6 billion at 4 per cent of the total non-oil exports.

The re-exports value recorded Dh301.4 billion. Mobile phones came first as the best re-exported commodity with a value of Dh48.1 billion at 16 per cent of the total re-exports.

Next came non-composite diamond with a value of Dh37.3 billion at 12 per cent of the total re-exports, followed by ornaments and jewellery with a value of Dh23.5 billion at 8 per cent, cars with a value of Dh17.6 billion at 6 per cent and automatic data processing machines with a value of Dh12.6 billion at 4 per cent of the total re-exports.

The total non-oil trade volume in terms of weight was approximately 176.7 million tonnes with 77.7 million tonnes of imported goods, 84.7 million tonnes of exports and 14.3 million tonnes of re-exports.

According to the FCA, the regional structure of the UAE’s trading partners in the field of non-oil trade was stable in terms of regional shares. Therefore, Asia, Australia and the Pacific region stayed on the top among the non-oil trade partners with a share of Dh465.7 billion, equivalent to 42 per cent of the total non-oil trade.

The European region came second in this list with a share of Dh250.4 billion at 23 per cent of the total non-oil trade, followed by the Middle East and North Africa Region with Dh213.9 billion at 19 per cent, the American and Caribbean Region with Dh105.8 billion at 10 per cent, the West and Central Africa with Dh35.9 billion at 3.2 per cent and the Eastern and Southern Africa with Dh35.8 billion, at 3 per cent of the total non-oil trade.

The share of the UAE non-oil trade with the GCC countries constituted 11 per cent of the total non-oil trade with the world, amounting to Dh126.1 billion.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia came topped the list of Gulf countries with a value of Dh54.8 billion at 43 per cent of the UAE’s total non-oil trade with the GCC countries, followed by Oman with a value of Dh23.6 billion at 19 per cent, Kuwait with Dh18.8 billion at 15 per cent, Qatar with Dh16.4 billion at 13 per cent and the Kingdom of Bahrain with a value of Dh12.5 billion at 10 per cent.

In terms of trade with the Arab countries during the first nine months of 2016, the FCA data showed that the UAE’s total non-oil trade with the Arab states constituted 19 per cent of its total non-oil trade with the world, with a value of Dh218.3 billion.