India emerges as Dubai's second biggest trade partner after China

 Saudi Arabia came fourth with 30.5 billion dirhams up 26 per cent from H1 2020, followed by Switzerland at 24.8 billion dirham

India has emerged as Dubai's second-biggest trading partner after China with the overall volume touching 38.5 billion dirhams in the first half of 2021, according to official data released on Sunday.

According to a Dubai government statement, the emirate had a trading volume of 86.7 billion dirhams with China in H1 (first half) of 2021, followed by India and the US at third position.

Trade with India grew 74.5 per cent year-on-year to 67.1 billion dirhams from 38.5 billion dirhams in H1 2020.

China recorded 30.7 per cent growth year-on-year with total trade with Dubai standing at 66.3 billion dirhams in H1 2020.

In H1 2021, the USA traded 32 billion dirhams with Dubai, up 1 per cent year-on-year from 31.7 billion dirhams.

Saudi Arabia came fourth with 30.5 billion dirhams up 26 per cent from H1 2020, followed by Switzerland at 24.8 billion dirhams.

The total share of the five biggest trade partners in H1 2021 amounted to 241.21 billion dirhams compared to 185.06 billion dirhams in H1 2020, up 30.34 per cent.

Gold topped the list of commodities in Dubai's H1 external trade at 138.8 billion dirhams (19.2 per cent of Dubai trade), followed by telecoms at 94 billion dirhams (13 per cent).

Diamonds came third in the list at 57.3 billion dirhams (8 per cent), followed by jewelry at 34.1 billion dirhams (4.7 per cent), and vehicle trade at 28 billion dirhams (4 per cent).

Dubai's non-oil external trade surged 31 per cent in the first half of 2021 to reach 722.3 billion dirhams from 550.6 billion dirhams in the corresponding period in 2020.

Exports grew 45 percent year on year in H1 2021 to 109.8 billion dirhams from 75.8 billion dirhams, which supports the goal of the 10 x 10 program (one of the nation's 'Projects of the 50' initiatives) to increase the UAE's exports to 10 global markets by 10 per cent annually.