Non-oil foreign trade jumps in UAE

UAE's non-oil foreign trade has registered a 14 per cent year-on-year growth. Official statistics released by the Ministry of Foreign Trade (MoFT) suggest that trade jumped to Dh754.4 billion in 2010 from Dh660.4 billion in 2009. Exports grew by 27 per cent in 2010 to account for 11 per cent, or Dh83.1 billion, of UAE’s foreign trade in 2010, in a marked contrast to 2009, when it was just 8.1 per cent. “During the global financial crisis, gold and jewellery exports grew by 37 per cent to leverage the UAE’s foreign trade growth to eight per cent. In 2010, non-oil exports, except for gold, could achieve a 24 per cent growth rate,” the report said. Between 2008-2010, UAE’s technology exports constituted 25 per cent of the total exports. The country's goods had presence in 198 markets around the world, with 12 markets valued over Dh1 billion which accounted for 77 per cent of the total exports and 137 markets receiving three per cent of the total exports each.