Dubai, July 21: India and China have become the most dominant exporters to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), accounting for nearly a quarter of the country's total imports in 2009, according to official data.
India, which maintains strong political and economic links with the Emirates, exported a record Dh61.5 billion worth of goods to the UAE in 2009, accounting for around 13.7 percent of the country's total imports, Emirates Business 24/7 reported Wednesday.
China's exports to the UAE stood at Dh47.8bn, constituting around 10.7 percent of the country's total imports of Dh447.3bn.
Exports by India and China to the UAE totalled around Dh109.3 billion in 2009, nearly 24.5 percent of the UAE's total imports, said the National Bureau of Statistics of the Ministry of Economy.
The figures showed the US, which had maintained the second position in exports to the UAE in most previous years, retreated to the third rank, with the value of its exports to the country totalling around Dh41.5bn last year.
Germany came fourth, with around Dh29.9 billion while Japan, which had long dominated exports to the UAE, fell back to the fifth position, with a value of about Dh26.9 billion, according to the report.
Other key exporters to the UAE were Britain, with Dh18.7bn, Italy with Dh17.4bn, South Korea with Dh16.8bn and France with Dh14bn.
Neighbouring Saudi Arabia was the only Arab nation to be in the list of the top 10 exporters to the UAE, with a value of Dh12.1bn.
The report said, Iran remained the largest market for re-exported products from the UAE, with a value of around Dh25.9bn in 2009, accounting for around 17.6 percent of its total re-exports of Dh147bn. It was followed by India with nearly Dh24.6bn.