UAE non-oil foreign trade exceeded $470.3bln in H1 2025: Sheikh Mohammed
In a tweet on the "X" platform, His Highness said, "Today, I reviewed our non-oil foreign trade data for the first half of 2025. In the first six months of this year, we achieved more than AED1.7 trillion, with a record growth of 24% compared to the first half of 2024, which itself was an exceptional year for our national economy. We recorded double what we achieved in the first half of 2021 and continued the unprecedented boom in our trade with historic growth rates of 59.5% and 37.8% compared to the first half of 2022 and 2023, respectively.'
His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum added, 'In September 2021, we launched the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) programme to expand our network of trading partners around the world. Our non-oil foreign trade continues to reap the benefits of this programme, under which we have concluded 28 agreements to date, 10 of which have entered into force. This means we can offer unhindered customs access to markets where nearly 3 billion consumers live.'
His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum praised the UAE's non-oil exports, which increased their contribution to total non-oil foreign trade to 21.4% for the first time in the country's history, compared to 18.4% in the first half of 2024.
The UAE's non-oil foreign trade for the period from January 1 to June 30 2025 showed the continuation of its upward trajectory, recording about AED1.728 trillion (equivalent to USD$470.3 billion), with a growth of 24% year-on-year, compared to the first half of 2024, and growth on a semi-annual basis of 9.1% compared to the second half of 2024.
The UAE's non-oil foreign trade continued to achieve record and unprecedented growth rates, recording an increase of 37.8% and 59.5% in the first half of 2025 compared to the same period in 2023 and 2022 respectively. Trade output is double the figure achieved in the first half of 2021 and was more than double the figure recorded in the first half of 2019.
The UAE's non-oil exports reached AED369.5 billion during the first half of 2025, with a growth rate of more than 44.7% – for the first time in the country's history –, as well as a growth rate of 80% when compared to the first half of 2023. This level is more than double the value of non-oil exports during 2022, more than double 2021's level and 3 times larger than in 2020 and 2019. Non-oil exports increased during the first half of 2025 at a record rate of 210.3% compared to the same period in 2019.
Non-oil exports were the best performers among the UAE's foreign trade during the first half of 2025, contributing 21.4% of the UAE's total non-oil trade. This was higher than the contribution in the first half of 2024 and 2023, where it was 18.4% and 16.4%, respectively.
The most important destinations for the UAE's non-oil exports during the first half of 2025 were Switzerland, followed by India second, Turkey third, and Hong Kong-China fourth. Thailand, Switzerland and India recorded the highest growth rates among the recipient markets for UAE exports.
Among the top 10 recipients of the UAE's non-oil exports, CEPA partners amounted to AED85.02 billion, with a growth of 62.8% and a 23% share of the UAE's non-oil exports. India received a value of AED51.45 billion, a growth of 97.6% compared to 2024 for the same period, followed by Turkey with a value of AED27.2 billion and a growth of 24.1%. Exports to these ten countries with which CEPAs came into force increased 3 times compared to the exports recorded in 2022 and 2021 and exceeded 4 times the exports in 2019.
The value of re-exports also continued its upward trajectory, reaching AED389 billion during the first half of 2025, with a growth of 14%, 15.8% and 25.4% compared to the same periods in 2024, 2023 and 2022. respectively. The re-exports of the top 10 partner nations recorded a growth of 16.5%. Re-exports of the rest of the world recorded a growth of 12% compared with the first half of 2024.
The UAE's imports of non-oil goods amounted to AED969.3 billion during the first half of 2025, a growth rate of 22.5% compared to the same period in 2024, while the UAE's imports from the top 10 trading partners increased by 20.8% and with the rest of the world by 24.3%.
The UAE's non-oil trade with the country's top 10 trading partners around the world continued its upward trajectory in the first half of 2025 with a growth of 25.5% and an increase of 23.6% with the rest of the countries.
Trade with India increased by 33.9%, with China by 15.6%, with Switzerland by 120%, and with Saudi Arabia by 21.3% compared to the same period in 2024. Trade with Turkey also saw a 41.4% rise, while the UAE's non-oil trade with the United States of America witnessed a growth of 29% and ranked sixth among the country's top 10 trading partners around the world. France also entered the top 10 list in the first half of 2025.
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