Abu Dhabi non-oil trade touches Dhs80.23 billion in 5 months

The value of Abu Dhabi non-oil foreign trade has reached Dhs80.23 billion through the emirate’s outlets during the first five months of 2020, the Abu Dhabi Customs has announced.

Exports value reached Dhs23.20 billion and the re-export value reached Dhs14.79 billion, while importation reached a static growth to be Dhs42.24 billion.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia retained the first place of most trading countries with Abu Dhabi during the first five months of this year, where trading between both countries has reached Dhs17.91 billion.

Pearl, precious stones, precious metals, and their manufactures topped the list of most exported non-oil goods with a value of Dhs6.27 billion during the first five months of this year, followed by common metals and their manufacture with a value of Dhs5.92 billion.

Transportation equipment was first on the re-export level with a value of Dhs5.59 billion, while machines, recording devices, and audio and visual broadcasting equipment came in first on the importation level at Dhs9.65 billion.

The number of custom transactions that were completed reached 434.647 through Abu Dhabi land, sea, and air outlets, which contribute to providing necessary community needs that are represented in food, medicine, and commodities.

General Administration of Customs in Abu Dhabi has qualified citizens who are highly skilled in customs work with all its various activities based on a sophisticated infrastructure which depends on digital and Artificial Intelligence to achieve numerous transactions that contribute to establishing speed and ease in finalising transactions consistently with Abu Dhabi’s vision for the future of the sector.

Saeed Saad Al Qahtani, Head of Khalifa Port Custom Centre, in his statements to Emirates News Agency, WAM, said that Khalifa Port Custom Centre had witnessed a growth in standard containers entry by about seven per cent during the first quarter of this year compared to the same period last year.

The Khalifa Port Custom Centre had received about 78,000 standard containers during the same period to meet the community’s necessary needs of commodities, food, and medicine, he added.

Customs Controller, Salem Hussein, told WAM that the Abu Dhabi Customs is continuing its efforts in protecting and educating its employees from controllers and inspectors who directly deal with goods and shipments by obliging everyone to use face masks, gloves, and clothes. All inspectors undergo regular COVID-19 tests to maintain the health and safety of those who directly deal with goods and shipments.

The value of non-oil goods trade is limited to goods that entered or exited the land, sea and air outlets of the emirate of Abu Dhabi, which means that these goods do not represent all of Abu Dhabi’s non-oil trade with the world as it does not include trade that was carried out through other outlets in the country.

In a related context, the Economic Stimulus Package, which was recently launched by the General Administration of Customs in Abu Dhabi to support importers and traders in the emirate contributed to enhancing the foreign trade movement of Abu Dhabi.

Also, the Bonded Warehouses System “Bonded Warehouses” that was launched by Abu Dhabi Customs last year, and which allows suppliers to store their received goods from abroad through border outlets without the need to pay customs duties; represented an important initiative which contributed in stimulating and encouraging trade and investors and attracting capital to the emirate.

Meanwhile the economic relations between the UAE and South Korea have witnessed considerable development in all sectors. The volume of non-oil trade between the UAE and South Korea reached $4.9 billion in 2019, said Abdullah Ghurair Al Qubaisi, Deputy Director General of the Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ADCCI).

He revealed during the first online B2B matchmaking event organised for Emirati and Korean businesses that the UAE import from Korea reached to $3.8 billion and Emirati exports to Korea was $715.6 million last year.The UAE also re-exported $437.4 of products to Korea. The trade balance surplus was in favor of South Korea with around $2.7 billion.

The Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce and Industry has organised its first online B2B matchmaking event, which witnessed the participation of more than 100 Emirati and Korean businesses. This virtual online meeting is held instead of a physical one considering the current Coronavirus pandemic and the applied precautionary measure including social distancing.

WAM