oil foreign trade has risen for Q1 2011 compared to the same quarter of the last year. Federal Customs Authority (FCA) preliminary statistics showed that UAE non-oil foreign trade has grown for the said period by 25 percent compared to the same period of the last year as total non-oil foreign trade has grown from AED237.5 billion during Q1 2010 to AED297.3 billion in Q1 2011, an increase of AED59.8 billion. In a statement Tuesday, FCA said preliminary statistics for Q1 2011 show a 21.6 percent growth in imports to increase from AED155.9 billion during Q1 2010 to AED189.6 billion for the same quarter in 2011. On the other hand, exports witnessed an astounding growth by 23.7 percent for the same period with an increase from AED23.7 billion to AED34.7 billion. Re-exports, however, experienced a growth rate of 25.9 percent to go up from AED58 billion to AED73 billion for the same period. According to FCA, growth rates in non-oil foreign trade during Q1 2011, compared to Q1 2010 confirm the national economy's course of recovery and restoration of the pre-world financial crisis growth rates. Statistics also feature skyrocketing growth rates in exports and re-exports; facts reflecting positive trends of the national economy in terms or productivity, exports, re-exports and higher competitiveness for national products in global markets. For FCA, in terms of value, UAE total foreign trade in April, 2011 valued YoY AED68.9 billion compared to AED58.9 with an increase of 17 percent. April Imports, in turn, hit YoY AED42.9 billion with an increase of 11 percent. Exports achieved YoY AED10.3 billion with an increase of 59 percent. Yet, re-exports recorded a YoY increase of 14 percent to hit AED15.8 billion. However, weight-wise UAE total foreign trade in April, 2011 has hit 6.1 m tons, of which 3.7 m tons in imports, 1.7 million tons in exports and 652 thousand tons in re-exports. Accordingly, daily average of consignments and shipments, in exports and imports and re-exports, handled at various custom ports reached 25 thousand tons against an official daily man-hours of 8 hours / 5 days a week, with an average of 3 thousand tons / hour. FCA said each of India, China, the US, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Italy, Saudi Arabia, the UK and Switzerland, respectively, topped exporters' list to the UAE in April, 2011 with a total value of AED25.4 billion, or 59 percent of the UAE total imports. On the level of non-oil exports, India, Canada, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran, Qatar, Oman, respectively, spearheaded importers from the UAE with AED8.3 billion, accounting for 80 percent of the UAE exports. Meanwhile, India, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Belgium, Bahrain and Oman topped the list in terms of re-exports with AED11 billion, representing 70 percent of the UAE total re-exports. The total value of UAE-GCC non-oil foreign trade hit AED5.4 billion in April 2011, of which AED2.3 billion in imports, AED1.2 billion in exports and AED2 billion in re-exports. Saudi Arabia maintained its first rank among GCC region's trading partners with a total value of AED2.5 billion in April 2011. Kuwait came second with AED946 million followed by Oman (AED791 illion), Bahrain (AED648 illion) and finally Qatar (AED563 million). "UAE total foreign trade with Arab countries in terms of value amounted to AED9.4 billion in April, 2011, with AED4.1 billion worth of imports, AED1.8 billion worth of exports and AED3.5 billion of re-exports. Saudi Arabia topped the list of Arab states in terms of non-oil trade with the UAE, followed by Sudan, Oman, Iraq, Egypt, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Morocco, Lebanon, Yemen, and Algeria. Djibouti and Comoros tailed the list." The preliminary statistical data of April, 2011 showed that gold ranked first among imports with a value of AED6.7 billion, followed by diamond with AED4.1 billion, ornaments and jewelry with AED2.2bn, cars with AED1.9 billion, telephone sets AED930 million, jet, propelling and gas vehicles with AED668 million, silver with AED635 million, in addition to spare parts and accessories of tractors, vehicles for special uses, passenger vehicles and goods vehicles (AED591 million). Gold, according to FCA, also came first among exports in April, 2011 with AED4.3 billion, followed by fire-fighting, guiding and other ships with AED2.6 million.
