UAE, Saudi Arabia non-oil foreign trade grows 92.5% over past decade

The non-oil foreign trade between the UAE and Saudi Arabia grew by 92.5 per cent over the past decade.

The non-oil foreign trade amounted to Dhs124.69bn by the end of 2021 compared to Dhs64.79bn by end of 2012, according to statistics from the Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Centre (FCSC).

From 2012 to 2021, Saudi Arabia was the UAE’s fourth leading trading partner, with their trade exchange amounting to Dhs904.3bn, or 5.6 per cent of the UAE’s total international trade. The total value of non-oil exports from the UAE to Saudi Arabia over the past ten years stood at around Dhs205.5bn, while re-exports were valued at Dhs471.7bn, and imports at Dhs227bn.

According to the FCSC’s figures, the trade exchange between the two countries in 2013 stood at Dhs79.9bn, decreasing to Dhs75.5bn in 2014, and increasing again in 2015 to Dhs83.3bn. The non-oil trade exchange between the two countries totalled Dhs71.5bn in 2016 and Dhs79.2bn in 2017. It crossed the Dhs1bn mark in 2018, was valued at Dhs113.2bn in 2019 and stood at Dhs104bn in 2020. In 2021, the trade exchange between the UAE and Saudi Arabia amounted to Dhs124.6bn.

Year 2021
Re-exports represented 48 per cent of the total trade between the two countries in 2021, valued at more than Dhs59.78bn, while exports accounted for 30 per cent, with a value of more than Dhs37.85bn.

In 2021, petroleum and oil obtained from bituminous minerals topped the list of Emirati imports, with a value of over Dhs5bn, followed by ethylene polymers in their primary forms valued at Dhs3.35bn, and raw, semi-worked or powdered gold with a value of Dhs1.87bn. Gold topped the list of key commodities exported to Saudi Arabia in 2021, with a value of Dhs10.9bn, followed by wires valued at Dhs3.11bn.

Telephone devices, including phones for cellular networks and other wireless networks, topped the list of goods that were re-exported to Saudi Arabia in 2021, with a value of Dhs11.58bn, followed by machines for the self-processing of information and their units, magnetic or optical readers, and machines for transmitting information on stands in the form of codes worth Dhs6.12bn, and then by cars worth Dhs2.29bn, vehicle parts and supplies worth Dhs2.08bn, and ready-made clothes worth Dhs1.59bn.