UAE’s non-oil foreign trade grows 17% in 2022

The UAE’s non-oil foreign trade reached a record Dhs2.33tn ($608bn) in 2022, up 17 per cent over the previous year.

Read: UAE’s non-oil foreign trade rises 27% in 2021

This is the first time that the country’s non-oil foreign trade has surpassed the Dhs2tn barrier.

China was the UAE’s main trading partner for 2022, followed by India, Saudi Arabia, and the US.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, chaired the cabinet meeting at Qasr Al Watan Abu Dhabi, on Monday.

“During the Cabinet meeting, we reviewed the results of the UAE’s foreign trade in 2022. Our foreign trade achieved a historical record reaching more than AED2.2 trillion, a growth of 17 percent,” Sheikh Mohammed said.

واطلعنا اليوم في مجلس الوزراء على نتائج التجارة الخارجية لدولة الإمارات في عام 2022 والتي بلغت رقماً قياسياً تاريخياً بحمد الله وصل لأكثر من 2.2 تريليون درهم محققةً نمواً بلغ 17٪.. pic.twitter.com/7pLLcIzu70

— HH Sheikh Mohammed (@HHShkMohd) February 6, 2023

“We continue to leverage our unique location, world-class logistics capabilities and unrivalled global connectivity to become a vital international trading hub – and, as a result, break records across every metric,” Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of State for Foreign Trade, said on Twitter.  

Surpassing AED2 trillion in #trade in 2022 for the 1st time ever underlines the #UAE‘s status as a catalyst of global trade. As the world looks to reinvigorate the economy in 2023, we want to share our innovative approach & help future-proof the global trading system pic.twitter.com/gQl6jdKTW7

— د. ثاني الزيودي (@ThaniAlZeyoudi) February 7, 2023

The country’s exports stood at Dhs366bn, making up 16.4 per cent of its non-oil trade in 2022, up from 11.9 per cent in 2015.

Importantly, our exports achieved an all-time record value of AED366 billion – which is 16.4% of our total trade. pic.twitter.com/zjr6USaGbF

— د. ثاني الزيودي (@ThaniAlZeyoudi) February 6, 2023

The country’s top commodities for re-export last year included mobile and smartphones, diamonds, cars and automotive parts, as well as jewellery/gemstones.

In 2022, the UAE signed three comprehensive economic partnership agreements – The agreement with India was signed in February last year, while the pact with Israel was inked in May.

Read: UAE and India sign Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement

Read: UAE, Israel sign comprehensive economic partnership agreement

The agreement with Indonesia, meanwhile, was signed in July 2022.

Read: UAE, Indonesia sign comprehensive economic partnership agreement

The UAE’s agreements with India, Israel and Indonesia will help grow the national economy by 2.6 per cent by 2030, Dr Al Zeyoudi had said last year.

Read: UAE’s CEPA pacts to grow economy by 2.6% by 2030 – minister