That calculated dollar amount reflects an -11.2% setback compared to $315.9 billion five years earlier in 2019.
Year over year, the total value of goods exported from the UAE shrank by -45.6% from $515.6 billion during 2022.
UAE Most Valuable Trading Partners
The latest available country-specific data prorated from 2022 shows that 48.8% of products exported from the UAE was bought by importers in: Saudi Arabia (8.1% of the UAE total), India (7.4%), Iraq (6.2%), United States of America (3.3%), Oman (3.1%), Hong Kong (3%), mainland China (2.93%), Kuwait (2.89%), Switzerland (2.83%), Türkiye (2.3%), Iran (2%) and Qatar (1.74%).
From a continental perspective, 70.4% of UAE exports by value was delivered to fellow Asian countries while 11.8% was sold to importers located in Europe. UAE shipped another 11.8% worth of goods to Africa.
Smaller percentages went to buyers in North America (5%), Latin America (0.6%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean, then Oceania (0.4%) led by Australia and New Zealand.
Given the UAE’s population of 9.7 million people, its total $280.4 billion in 2023 exports translates to roughly $28,900 for every resident in the sovereign absolute monarchy. That dollar metric lags the average $31,500 in exports per capita in 2022.
United Arab Emirates’ Top 10 Exports
The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in UAE global shipments during 2023. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from the UAE.
- Mineral fuels including oil: US$174.3 billion (62.2% of total exports)
- Gems, precious metals: $56.8 billion (20.3%)
- Aluminum: $7.7 billion (2.7%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: $6.6 billion (2.3%)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: $3.3 billion (1.2%)
- Machinery including computers: $3 billion (1.1%)
- Ships, boats: $2.9 billion (1%)
- Salt, sulphur, stone, cement: $2.6 billion (0.9%)
- Copper: $2.5 billion (0.9%)
- Iron, steel: $2.3 billion (0.8%)
The UAE’s top 10 exported product categories accounted for 93.4% of the overall value of its global shipments.
Ships and boats was the fastest grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 393% year over year since 2022.
The other gainer was the salt, sulphur, stone and cement category which rose 71.6%.
The leading decliners among UAE’s top 10 export categories were electrical machinery and equipment (down -91.7%) and machinery including computers (down -86.6%).
The above listed product categories are at the two-digit Harmonized Tariff System (HTS) code level.
Drilling down to the more detailed four-digit HTS codes, the UAE’s 6 biggest exported goods generated well over four-fifths (83.4%) of the Middle Eastern nation’s overall revenue stream from international sales in 2023.
The top 6 exported products are crude oil (39.6% of total), processed petroleum oils (17%), gold (13.7%), petroleum gases (4.8%), unmounted diamonds (4.4%) and raw aluminum (2.3%).
Products Generating the UAE’s Biggest Trade Surpluses
The UAE racked up an estimated US$17.5 billion product trade surplus for 2023 down by -81.6% from the $95.1 billion in black ink one year earlier in 2022.
The following types of UAE product shipments represent positive net exports or a trade balance surplus. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports.
In a nutshell, net exports represent the amount by which foreign spending on a home country’s goods or services exceeds or lags the home country’s spending on foreign goods or services.
- Mineral fuels including oil: US$162.5 billion (Down by -34.7% since 2022)
- Aluminum: $6.5 billion (Down by -2.5%)
- Gems, precious metals: $4.1 billion (Reversing a -$20.1 billion deficit)
- Salt, sulphur, stone, cement: $2.4 billion (Up by 111.6%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: $1.6 billion (Down by -40.1%)
- Copper: $1 billion (Up by 781.7%)
- Fertilizers: $862.1 million (Reversing a -$96.5 million deficit)
- Ships, boats: $559.5 million (Reversing a -$156.3 million deficit)
- Lead: $90.4 million (Up by 1,081%)
- Ores, slag, ash: $33.9 million (Reversing a -$1.5 billion deficit)
The UAE has highly positive net exports in the international trade of petroleum oils–both crude and refined oils. In turn, these cashflows indicate UAE’s strong competitive advantages under the mineral fuels including oil product category.
Products Causing the UAE’s Worst Trade Deficits
Below are exports from the UAE that result in negative net exports or product trade balance deficits. These negative net exports reveal product categories where foreign spending on home country UAE’s goods trail UAE importer spending on foreign products.
- Electrical machinery, equipment: -US$35.1 billion (Up by 247.6% since 2022)
- Machinery including computers: -$28.8 billion (Up by 130.2%)
- Vehicles: -$22.6 billion (Up by 172.0%)
- Optical, technical, medical apparatus: -$4.1 billion (Up by 144.7%)
- Furniture, bedding, lighting, signs, prefabricated buildings: -$3.4 billion (Up by 176.1%)
- Articles of iron or steel: -$3.4 billion (Reversing a $245.6 million surplus)
- Pharmaceuticals: -$3.3 billion (Down by -13.9%)
- Perfumes, cosmetics: -$2.84 billion (Reversing a $1.22 billion surplus)
- Knit or crochet clothing, accessories: -$2.83 billion (Up by 146.1%)
- Aircraft, spacecraft: -$2.75 billion (Reversing a $1.17 billion surplus)
UAE has highly negative net exports and therefore deep international trade deficits under the machinery-related product categories.
Major Companies Headquartered in the UAE
Ten UAE business entities rank among Forbes Global 2000. The world-class UAE companies are listed in descending order starting with those with the highest dollar value in annual revenues.
- First Abu Dhabi Bank (banking services)
- Etisalat (telecom services, equipment)
- Emirates NBD (regional bank)
- Emaar Properties (real estate)
- DP World (marine terminal operations)
- Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (regional bank)
- Dubai Islamic Bank (regional bank)
- Mashreq Bank (regional bank)
- Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (regional bank)
- Union National Bank (regional bank)
Wikipedia lists exports-related companies located in the UAE. Selected examples from the energy sector are shown below, this time listed in alphabetical order.
- ADNOC Gas Processing (state-owned natural gas)
- Abu Dhabi National Energy Co (state-owned holding company)
- Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (state-owned petroleum)
- Dana Gas (privately-owned natural gas)
In macroeconomic terms, the United Arab Emirates exported goods worth 31.4% of its overall Gross Domestic Product for 2023 ($894.3 billion valued in Purchasing Power Parity US dollars). That 31.4% for exports to overall GDP in PPP for 2023 compares to 37.6% for 2022. Those percentages suggest a relatively decreasing reliance on products sold on international markets for UAE’s total economic performance, albeit based on a short timeframe.
Another key indicator of a country’s economic performance is its unemployment rate. UAE’s unemployment rate averaged 2.95% for 2023, down from an average 2.97% one year earlier for 2022 per Trading Economics.
The UAE’s capital city is Abu Dhabi.
See also Gold Exports by Country Plus Average Prices, Coal Exports by Country, Crude Oil Exports by Country and Petroleum Gas Exports by Country
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook: Middle East: United Arab Emirates. Accessed on July 9, 2024
FlagPictures.org, Flag of UAE. Accessed on July 9, 2024
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, United Arab Emirates’ Biggest Companies. Accessed on July 9, 2024
Foreign Trade , United States Census Bureau. Accessed on July 9, 2024
International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on July 9, 2024
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on July 9, 2024
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on July 9, 2024
Wikipedia, Gross domestic product. Accessed on July 9, 2024
Wikipedia, List of Companies of UAE. Accessed on July 9, 2024
Wikipedia, Purchasing power parity. Accessed on July 9, 2024
Wikipedia, United Arab Emirates. Accessed on July 9, 2024