Non-oil foreign trade between the UAE and Saudi Arabia jumped 92.5 percent over the last ten years as it hit 124.69 billion dirhams ($33.9 billion) by the end of 2021, WAM reported citing official data.
The non-oil trade exchanged last year is almost double the 2012 figure, which came in at 64.79 billion dirhams according to statistics from the UAE’s Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Center.
The figures also showed the total value of non-oil exports from the UAE to Saudi Arabia over the past ten years was around 205.5 billion dirhams, while re-exports were valued at 471.7 billion dirhams, and imports at 227 billion dirhams.
Petroleum and oil obtained from bituminous minerals topped the list of Emirati imports in 2021, with a value of over 5 billion dirhams, and then by ethylene polymers in their primary forms — valued at 3.35 billion dirhams.
Raw, semi-worked or powdered gold followed with a value of 1.87 billion dirhams, and then by propylene polymers in their primary forms.
Gold topped the list of key commodities exported from the UAE to Saudi Arabia in 2021, with a value of 10.9 billion dirhams, followed by wires valued at 3.11 billion dirhams.
Telephone devices, including phones for cellular networks and other wireless networks, topped the list of goods that were re-exported to Saudi Arabia in 2021, with a value of 11.58 billion dirhams, according to the FCSC.
Machines for the self-processing of information and their units, magnetic or optical readers, and machines for transmitting information on stands in the form of codes followed, valued at 6.12 billion dirhams, followed by cars worth 2.29 billion dirhams, vehicle parts and supplies worth 2.08 billion dirhams, and ready-made clothes worth 1.59 billion dirhams.
Taking in oil, Saudi Arabia was the UAE’s fourth leading trading partner, from 2012 to 2021, with the partnership amounting to 904.3 billion dirhams, reflecting 5.6 percent of the UAE’s total international trade.
Saudi Arabia was ranked first in the list of countries that received re-exports from the UAE over the past 10 years, as they nearly hit 423 billion dirhams.