Abu Dhabi, UAE – The total direct and indirect economic impact is estimated at AED 48 billion ($13 billion) the UAE Minister of State for Foreign Trade Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi told the Emirates News Agency (WAM).
Al Zeyoudi said that the UAE is one of the largest re-export centers in the world making it a vital sector for the country’s economy.
According to the Global Trade Outlook and Statistics report issued by the World Trade Organisation, the UAE is among the top five countries in global re-export operations, with 2.4 percent of the total sea container trade passing through one of its modern world-class ports. The country’s container ports exchanged over 19.18 million TEUs in 2021.
In 2022, the total value of the UAE’s foreign trade reached a record-breaking AED2.23 trillion ($0.60 trillion), an increase of 17 percent over 2021 with the share of re-exports totalling AED614.4 billion ($3.92 billion), or 27.5 percent of the total value.
Al Zeyoudi said that mobile phones and their accessories were the largest single sector for re-exports in 2022, with a rate of 18.3 percent, followed by diamonds, mass transit vehicles and jewelry.
“The UAE is the world’s largest re-exporter of rice, the third largest re-exporter of diamonds, the fifth largest re-exporter of coffee, and the fifth largest re-exporter of tea,” he said.
The latest studies, the minister said, showed that re-export contributes 6.6 percent of the UAE’s GDP. At the country level as a whole, he added, the re-export sector generated about 1.3 million jobs, not only in logistics services and related trade services, but also in sectors like banking, finance, insurance, communications, hospitality, transportation, health care and entertainment.