UAE-China trade falls 17% to $20b as oil prices take toll

Decline comes on the back of slower economic growth, lower oil prices

Bilateral trade between the UAE and China dropped to $20.2 billion (Dh74.19 billion) in the first half of 2016 — down 17 per cent year-onyear — on the back of slower global economic growth, a spokesman from the Chinese embassy said.

The drop in trade figures is also supported by lower oil prices, which fell from mid2014 highs of $115 per barrel to around $37 at the end of 2015, with oil being one of the main commodities exported by the UAE to China.

According to Lin Yaduo, Charge d’Affaires at the Chinese Embassy in the Abu Dhabi, the UAE is still China’s secondlargest trade partner despite the drop, and the largest market for Chinese exports in the Middle East and North Africa.

Yaduo was speaking yesterday in Abu Dhabi at an investment forum that aimed to strengthen economic ties with China, specifically in the non-oil sectors.

Diversification

He said China was aiming to capitalise on Abu Dhabi Vision 2030, which focuses on diversification away from oil, in order to boost investment ties in non-oil sectors.

The event comes just two weeks after the UAE announced it would grant visas on arrivals to Chinese citizens — a move that is expected to boost tourism and trade between both countries.

Looking at Abu Dhabi alone, non-oil trade between Abu Dhabi and China reached Dh6.6 billion in the first half of 2016, a 57 per cent jump from the Dh4.2 billion in trade recorded in the same half of 2015.