Abu Dhabi's trade in iron, steel and copper in 2017 amounted to Dh22 billion ($6 billion), a growth of around 4 per cent from Dh21.16 billion in 2016, accounting for 13.7 per cent of the emirate's total non-oil merchandise in 2017, which was valued at Dh160 billion.

The growing demand over these kinds of minerals has significantly contributed to increasing the value of imports last year to Dh17.4 billion, up 8.7 per cent from Dh16 billion in 2016, reported Emirates news agency Wam, citing figures released by the Statistics Centre-Abu Dhabi (SCAD).

In the meantime, the exports totalled Dh4.3 billion against 4.8 billion in 2016, while re-exports stood at Dh250 million by the end of December.

Foreign trade data presented by SCAD do not cover non-oil exports and imports through ports of the other Emirates, the report noted.