The total value of the foreign trade of creative industries in the UAE was recorded at $30.7 billion in 2015, reflecting a seven per cent increase in its non-oil trade activities, according to a recent study.

The global export of creative goods grew to approximately $538 billion in 2015, acquiring 3.3 per cent of the world's total export of merchandise for the same year, as per the study issued by the Department of Industry and Trade Information Analysis at the Ministry of Economy regarding foreign trade of the UAE of creative goods industries.
 
In line with this, the UAE has been positioned in the ninth place in the global list of total recorded exports and re-exports of creative goods, which is valued at $16.1 billion and accounting for 3 per cent of the world's total exports of creative goods, it said.

The report was prepared by economic researcher Ahmed Annaba and supervised by Dr Mattar Ahmad Al Ali, which is part of the Ministry of Economy’s efforts to identify, analyse and disseminate essential data and information, with regards to the national economy and including the non-oil foreign trade.

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) defines creative industries as the creation, production and distribution of goods and services that use creativity and intellectual capital as key inputs, which includes jewellery, advertising materials, chandeliers, bags and others.

Based on the data released covering the direct trade and free zones trade for the total exports and re-exports of creative industries commodities, the UAE placed ninth worldwide with a value of $16.1 billion — constituting three per cent of the world's total exports of creative goods.

Among Arab countries, the UAE accounts for more than 75 per cent of the total value of Arab exports of creative goods. According to the World Trade Center, the value of Arab countries' exports for 2015 is estimated to be close to $21 billion.

In the case of calculating the contribution of creative exports and the total exports of the top 10 countries, the UAE is ranked first with a contribution of more than 10 per cent of its total non-oil exports and re-exports during 2015--surpassing Italy (8.2 per cent), India (8.0 per cent) and China (7.5 per cent).

The study indicates that the foreign trade of the UAE’s creative industries commodities amounted to about $30.7 billion in 2015, which accounts for 7 per cent of the total non-oil trade in the UAE.

On the export side, which includes non-oil national exports and re-exports, it is represented by 10 per cent, and exceeded by 11 per cent during the first three quarters of 2016.

The study pointed out that exports of national origin accounted for 41 per cent of the total exports and re-exports of the UAE's creative industries commodities during the year 2015 and has a high contribution percentage as compared to the 14 per cent recorded in 2012, the 21 per cent posted in 2013 and 19 per cent in 2014--noting that the preliminary data for the period from January to September 2016 amounted to 38 per cent, and national exports of creative commodities has achieved a growth of 120 per cent in 2015 as compared to 2014.

The UAE imports of creative industries commodities geographically concentrated in 2015 from India with 17.4 per cent, followed by Malaysia at 12.3 per cent, China 11.5 per cent, France 10 per cent and Italy at 8.9 per cent. The top 10 countries account for 79.0 per cent of the UAE's total imports of creative goods, it stated. – TradeArabia News Service