First quarter exports of Dubai Chamber members climb to a record high.

First quarter exports of Dubai Chamber members climb to a record high Exports of 6,592 Dubai Chamber members in the first quarter of 2008 reached a record high of AED 49 billion, posting a year-on-year growth of 36 % from the AED 36 billion for the same quarter of 2007 (Fig. 1). Compared to the AED 47 billion exports in the last quarter of 2006, the figure represented a 6 % increase. GCC and other neighboring countries are the major destinationsThe GCC countries remained to be the largest recipient of Dubai exports, with 45 % of total exports valued at AED 22.2 bn destined to the region, and an additional AED 3.5 bn or 7 %, within the UAE (Table 1). Saudi Arabia and Qatar were the largest markets in the GCC, with total exports to these two countries posting respective quarter growth of 11 and 5 % to reach respective total values of AED 9.5 bn and AED 7.8 bn. In terms of growth, however, exports to Oman expanded most significantly by 36% to reach a quarter total of AED 1.9 bn. On the other hand, total export to Kuwait during the quarter, valued at AED 2.2 bn, was just about the same level as in the previous quarter. Bahrain, though remaining to be the smallest GCC market for Dubai's exports, nevertheless appeared to be an expanding market with exports growing by a little less than 5 % to reach AED 0.8 billion. About 33 % of Dubai's exports were destined to India and to neighboring countries, with total value of AED 17.2 bn, posting a quarter growth of 3.2 %. Fastest growing markets were Jordan and India, registering respective growths of 18 % and 15 %. In terms of value, however, exports to Jordan, valued at AED 0.9 bn, was very much lower than the AED 2.4 bn exports to India.On the other hand, significant contraction of export markets were noted for Libya and Yemen, with exports to these destinations declining by 28 % and 15 %, respectively. Exports to other destinations declined from AED 6.9 bn to AED 6.4 bn, for a quarter decline of 7 %. Shipments and marketsBy number of export shipments made during the quarter, 109 exporters remained to dominate exporting activities of Dubai Chamber members, making 200 or more export shipments each, with accumulated value of AED 20.8 bn, or 42 % of the total export value for the quarter (Table 2). On the average, each exporter in the group had about 12 export markets. In comparison, the number of exporters who shipped out goods 100 to 199 times increased to 154 from 148 in the previous quarter. Their combined export value of AED 6 bn accounted for 14 % of the total. On the average, a member of the group exported to about 9 export markets. On the other hand, 4,549 exporters exported less than 10 times during the quarter, with combined value of AED 6.1 bn, representing only about 12% of the total. On the average, an exporter in the group had only about 2 export markets. About 13 % of exporters shipped goods only 10 to 19 times, with total value of AED 3.6 bn, contributing only about 7 % to total, while the next group numbered 671 and had export value of AED 7.5 bn. Average markets for the two groups were 3 and 5, respectively. Exporters who shipped out goods 50 to 99 times, numbering 266 recorded a total export value of AED 5.4 bn. On the average, each exporter in the group had about 7 markets. The export performance monitoring system of the Dubai Chamber has been tracking a strong and continuing export performance of its member, beginning in the 2nd quarter of 2006, especially of those catering to large number of markets. However, the number of markets of a great majority of the exporters remained restricted to only about 3, limiting their exporting activities to less than 20 during the quarter. Thus, the need for support system to strengthen exporters' capabilities to access new markets remains a necessity.

[c] 2008 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)