US exports to UAE rise above $22bn mark

Exports of American goods to the UAE soared in value to a record $22.5bn last year, an increase of almost 30 per cent on 2011.

Exports of American goods to the UAE soared in value to a record US$22.5 billion (Dh82.64bn) last year, an increase of almost 30 per cent on 2011.

The data were revealed yesterday in a report published by the US census bureau. Details of what accounted for the big rise was not divulged, however, but in previous years big-ticket items such as airliners manufactured by Boeing in Seattle, defence equipment and infrastructure-related products have made up the lion's share of goods.

The value of goods exported from the UAE to the US fell slightly, from $2.4bn in 2011 to $2.2bn last year.

Last year, the United States recorded total crude oil imports from all countries of just 3.1 billion barrels, the fewest since 1997.

The US has made energy independence a policy priority and is aggressively exploring hard-to-reach oil and gas deposits within its territories.

The drop in foreign oil imports probably accounts for some of the decline in UAE exports to the US, economists said.

The balance of trade between the two nations increased markedly from $13.4bn to $20.3bn.

As in the previous year, the UAE bought more US goods than any other country in the Arab world.

Passenger jets and helicopters manufactured by Boeing made up the biggest single US export category to the UAE between 2006 and 2011, according to data from the UAE Ministry of Foreign Trade. The aeronautical products accounted for nearly one third of total US exports to the UAE during the period, the ministry said.

In November 2011 Boeing struck a record-breaking deal with Emirates Airline for 50 777 long-haul airliners, worth about $18bn at list prices. The deal marked the biggest single order in Boeing's history.

The sales are not recorded by Boeing as exports from the US when the deal is struck, however, but when the planes are delivered.

Farouk Soussa, the chief economist for the Middle East at Citigroup, based in Dubai, said that the US trade numbers were impressive but added that it was important to keep them in perspective with UAE trade as a whole.

"UAE trade is growing across the board," he said. "The most important growth is not with the West at all; it is with the East.

"Trade with the East is the biggest component of UAE foreign trade and it is where the biggest growth is found."