Gold accounted for Dh38 billion ($10.35 billion) or 56 per cent of Dubai’s direct exports in 2010, making it the top exported product by value, said a report.

The Emirate’s top 10 products accounted for 77 per cent of the total value of direct exports, an indication of a relative concentration of diverse product portfolio, according to Dubai Export Monitor Performance Highlights, a yearly publication produced by Dubai Exports, an agency of the Department of Economic Development (DED).

From the total direct exports of Dh68 billion, the top 10 products were valued at Dh53 billion, while other products were Dh15 billion.

Following gold, the other nine products, worth Dh14 billion in total, included waste and scrap of precious metals; sugar; other plates, sheets, film, foil & strip of plastics; petroleum oils & related products; ferrous waste and scrap; polyacetals, other polyether & epoxide resins; articles of jewellery & parts thereof; chocolate & other food preparations containing cocoa; and unwrought irons.

The Emirate has been exporting diverse products, such as gold and precious metals, sugar, plastics & food, in various target export markets particularly in South and West Asia, the report said.

In 2010, exports sustained the continuous growth trend, while imports to Dubai & Free Zone as well as re-exports have reversed the decline witnessed in 2009, the report showed.

Another important trend was the continuous growth of direct & Free Zone exports during the past years, followed the positive growth trend of manufacturing GDP, indicating that exporting was a main factor in fostering manufacturing growth during the recession.

Meanwhile, direct re-export pattern was significantly different as some products such as motor vehicles, spare parts and electrical apparatus were not in the direct exports list.

Among the leading re-exported products were diamonds, worth Dh56 billion or 39 per cent of the total re-exports value of Dh144 billion, followed by articles of jewellery & parts thereof; motor cars & other motor vehicles; parts of goods of other headings; electrical apparatus for line telephony or line telegraphy; parts & accessories of the motor vehicles; gold; woven fabrics of synthetic filament yarn; parts & accessories suitable for use solely or principally with machines; and motor vehicles for the transports of goods.

Trade pattern for Free Zone exports, valued at Dh143 billion, was also different from both direct export and re-export, being characterised by low product concentration; however electrical apparatus, petroleum products, and data processing machines have relatively higher shares.

“This edition of Dubai Export Monitor report has been compiled to serve as a ready reference to various stakeholders in the four main areas of interest – overall trade trend, regional trade, trade by product and trade by market,” said Saed Al Awadi, chief executive officer, Dubai Exports.

“Our direct exports, re-exports and free zone exports were well covered to give us a complete picture as possible of Dubai trade to support the needs of our members and in the agency’s strategy.”

“The report covers the latest trade statistics of last year, which was provided by Dubai Customs. All the data included here depicted the performance of exports by target products and markets. The report also gave exporters and investors with an analytical evaluation of the trends and composition of exports from Dubai as well as an evaluation of potential opportunities,” Al Awadi added.

Top destinations of Dubai’s exports and re-exports in 2010 were in South and West Asia Dh157 Billion; followed by ‘Other Arab Countries’ at Dh48.4 Billion; Arab Gulf Cooperation Council (AGCC) at Dh47.6 Billion; and West Europe at Dh37.5 Billion, the report highlighted.

Direct exports to South and West Asia were the most diversified with products including gold, sugar, petroleum and aluminium; while exports to AGCC were mainly food items.

Top products to other Arab countries were petroleum, plastics and gold while products exported to Western Europe were precious metals, plastics and ceramics.

Top Free Zone export destinations in 2010 were: South & West Asia (Dh40 billion), AGCC (Dh33 billion) and other Arab countries (Dh28 billion), while about Dh0.8 billion worth of goods were supplied by Free Zone to Duty Free Shops in UAE.

Meanwhile, Dubai export markets by value were highly concentrated in India and Switzerland, comprising of 40 per cent and 20 per cent respectively, due to the export of gold to these countries, whereas other direct exports go mainly to GCC and the neighbouring countries in small shares, said the report.

Furthermore, while India still took the biggest portion of 36 per cent of direct re-exports, there was a clear pattern of re-exports relative focus in Iran and Iraq with 17 per cent and 5 per cent shares respectively, including a number of other markets in small shares.

Dubai trade with its partners continued to grow, while some new export markets emerged as potentially important for Dubai, including Brazil, South Africa, Kazakhstan and Australia. Also, based on trade flows, the report highlighted some trade opportunities with Free Trade   countries that can benefit from free duties. – TradeArabia News Service