Non-oil trade between UAE, China crosses Dhs1.72tn in 10 years

The non-oil trade between the UAE and China totalled Dhs223.5bn by the end of 2021 compared to Dhs125.1bn in 2012, increasing 78.5 per cent during the period.

The total value of the non-oil trade exceeded Dhs1.72tn during the reporting period, including imports valued at Dhs1.53tn, non-oil exports valued at Dhs64bn, and re-exports valued at Dhs121bn, the Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Centre (FCSC) has reported.

Meanwhile, the non-oil trade exchange between the UAE and China in the first half of 2022 totalled Dhs118.4bn, consisting of imports valued at Dhs102.7bn, non-oil exports valued at Dhs5.5bn, and re-exports valued at Dhs9.8bn. The year 2017 recorded the highest trade exchange in the last decade worth Dhs195.6bn, a rise of 15 per cent compared to 2016.

Telecommunications devices topped the list of goods imported from China over the past year, amounting to Dhs70bn, followed by data processing equipment at Dhs23.6bn, medical vaccines at Dhs4.1bn, display screens at Dhs2.5bn, and headphones and amplifiers at Dhs2.5bn, official news agency WAM reported.

In the list of top five goods exported to China, ethylene polymers came in the first place with Dhs4bn, followed by propylene polymers with Dhs1.9bn, rapeseed oil with Dhs1.4bn, copper scraps with Dhs600m, and residues of fatty oil extraction with Dhs570m.

Telecommunications devices topped last year’s list of re-exports to China, with Dhs8.3bn, followed by data processing equipment with Dhs2.09bn, vehicles with some Dhs1.5bn, raw nickel with Dhs1.3bn, and car accessories with Dhs600m.

In another milestone, the UAE’s Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre signed a memorandum of understanding with the China National Space Administration last month, marking the start of the first joint space project between the two countries.

Read: UAE, China sign MoU to collaborate on joint space projects