UAE’s non-oil foreign trade in 2025 surged 26 per cent annually to exceed $1 trillion for the first time, as the Arab world’s second-largest economy continues to grow amid diversification strategies.
Non-oil exports during the year rose 45 per cent to Dh813 billion ($221 billion), Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, said on social media platform X on Saturday.
“These figures were targets we announced three years ago that we would reach by 2031 … 95 per cent of them have been achieved ahead of schedule by five years,” Sheikh Mohammed said.
The world's confidence in the UAE has been solidified and the private sector has been strengthened, Sheikh Mohammed added.
The country continues to record strong economic expansion on the back of its diversification drive.
The economy is projected to have grown by 5 per cent in 2025, the UAE Central Bank said in its outlook in December.
That was driven by a 4.9 per cent growth in the non-oil sector and 5.4 per cent expansion in the hydrocarbon sector due to the “faster-than-expected reversal of oil production cuts following the Opec+ quota increases”, the banking regulator said.
This year, the country's economy is projected to accelerate to 5.2 per cent, driven by stronger expansion in the hydrocarbon and non-oil sectors.
Cepa boost
The UAE's network of trade partners through the Comprehensive Economic Partnership (Cepa) programme has contributed significantly to the record non-oil foreign trade, Dr Thani Al Zeyoudi, Minister of Foreign Trade, said in a statement.
So far the UAE has concluded 35 Cepa agreements, with 14 fully implemented.
The UAE’s non-oil exports to the 14 nations with whom a Cepa is in force recorded a value of Dh175.5 billion in 2025, a growth of 18.2 per cent, and contributing 21.6 per cent of total exports last year.
Trade with India rose 14.7 per cent in 2025, fuelled by the Cepa that came into effect in May 2022.
Dr Al Zeyoudi said the growth in trade “has been achieved despite the global challenges to the international trading system, the result of growing geopolitical tensions around the world and the re-emergence of protectionism and tariff imposition between nations”.
The UAE’s non-oil foreign trade with its top 10 trading partners grew 28.9 per cent in 2025 and 24.8 per cent with other countries, data shows.
The top UAE exports included gold, jewellery, aluminium, cigarettes, refined petroleum oils, ethylene polymers, copper wires, precious metal composites and perfumes. They collectively increased by 64.5 per cent compared to 2024.
The highest growth was in precious metal composites, plastic products, gold, jewellery, perfumes, aluminium, and copper wires, according to official data.
Re-exports reached Dh830.2 billion by the end of 2025, up 15.7 per cent on 2024. Re-exports to the top 10 trading partners recorded 19.5 per cent growth, while re-exports to the rest of the world increased by 12.2 per cent.
UAE imports of non-oil goods reached more than Dh2.1 trillion last year, up 25.7 per cent on 2024. Imports increased by 27.2 per cent from the country's 10 trading partners, and 23.3 per cent from the rest of the world.
The countries major imported commodities in 2025 were gold, phones, cars, petroleum oils, jewellery, diamonds and computers.
In the final three months of 2025, the UAE's non-oil trade hit Dh1.1 trillion in a single quarter for the first time, a 33.1 per cent increase year-on-year. That was due to growth in non-oil exports that amounted to Dh234.4 billion, an increase of 53.2 per cent compared to the same quarter in 2024.
