India among major exporters to UAE free zones

India has been the leading exporter to the UAE free zones with gross exports worth $30 billion last year, or 66 per cent of the total value of the country's imports.

Besides India, the other leading exporters to the UAE are China, the US, Japan, the UK, South Korea, Germany, France, Malaysia, and Hungary.

In terms of imports and re-exports, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, India, Kuwait, Qatar, Pakistan, Egypt, Hong Kong and Belgium in that order were top of the list with a gross value of $20.2 billion, which amounts to 62 per cent of the total UAE export and re-exports, according to UAE's Federal Customs Authority (FCA).

In 2009, the total trade volume in UAE free zones stood at around $78 billion, of which imports accounted for $ 45.7 billion while exports and re-exports stood at $32.3 billion.

According to FCA's announcement today, during 2009, the total trade volume of free zones in terms of weight reached was around 23.1 million tonnes, which included 15.2 million tonnes of imports, 7.9 million tonnes of exports and re-exports.

The daily average weight of imported and exported shipments and consignments dealt with by the different free zones, thus amounted to about 96,000 tonnes per day, based on official working hours with an average of 12,000 tonnes per hour.