Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has said that the UAE, under the leadership of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, has continued on its path to become a major trading nation, a reliable trading partner for the world's largest economies and a gateway to facilitate trade flows around the world.

In a post on X, the UAE Vice President said, "Today, I reviewed our non-oil foreign trade data for the first half of 2025. In the first six months of this year, we achieved more than Dh1.7 trillion, with a record growth of 24% compared to the first half of 2024, which itself was an exceptional year for our national economy. We recorded double what we achieved in the first half of 2021 and continued the unprecedented boom in our trade with historic growth rates of 59.5 per cent and 37.8 per cent compared to the first half of 2022 and 2023, respectively.”

"In September 2021, we launched the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) programme to expand our network of trading partners around the world. Our non-oil foreign trade continues to reap the benefits of this program, under which we have concluded 28 agreements to date, 10 of which have entered into force. This means we can offer unhindered customs access to markets where nearly 3 billion consumers live," he added.

Sheikh Mohammed praised the UAE's non-oil exports, which increased their contribution to total non-oil foreign trade to 21.4% for the first time in the country's history, compared to 18.4% in the first half of 2024.

Record growth continues in the first half of 2025

The UAE's non-oil foreign trade for the period from January 1 to June 30 2025 showed the continuation of its upward trajectory, recording about Dh1.728 trillion (equivalent to $470.3 billion), with a growth of 24 per cent % year-on-year, compared to the first half of 2024, and growth on a semi-annual basis of 9.1 per cent compared to the second half of 2024.

The UAE's non-oil foreign trade continued to achieve record and unprecedented growth rates, recording an increase of 37.8 per cent and 59.5 per cent in the first half of 2025 compared to the same period in 2023 and 2022 respectively. Trade output is double the figure achieved in the first half of 2021 and was more than double the figure recorded in the first half of 2019.

The UAE's non-oil exports reached Dh369.5 billion during the first half of 2025, with a growth rate of more than 44.7 per cent — for the first time in the country's history — as well as a growth rate of 80 per cent when compared to the first half of 2023. This level is more than double the value of non-oil exports during 2022, more than double 2021's level and 3 times larger than in 2020 and 2019. Non-oil exports increased during the first half of 2025 at a record rate of 210.3 per cent compared to the same period in 2019.

Non-oil exports were the best performers among the UAE's foreign trade during the first half of 2025, contributing 21.4 per cent of the UAE's total non-oil trade. This was higher than the contribution in the first half of 2024 and 2023, where it was 18.4 per cent and 16.4 per cent, respectively.

The most important destinations for the UAE's non-oil exports during the first half of 2025 were Switzerland, followed by India second, Turkey third, and Hong Kong-China fourth. Thailand, Switzerland and India recorded the highest growth rates among the recipient markets for UAE exports.

Among the top 10 recipients of the UAE's non-oil exports, CEPA partners amounted to Dh85.02 billion, with a growth of 62.8 per cent and a 23 per cent share of the UAE's non-oil exports. India received a value of Dh51.45 billion, a growth of 97.6 per cent compared to 2024 for the same period, followed by Turkey with a value of Dh27.2 billion and a growth of 24.1 per cent. Exports to these ten countries with which CEPAs came into force increased 3 times compared to the exports recorded in 2022 and 2021 and exceeded 4 times the exports in 2019.

The value of re-exports also continued its upward trajectory, reaching Dh389 billion during the first half of 2025, with a growth of 14 per cent, 15.8 per cent and 25.4 per cent, compared to the same periods in 2024, 2023 and 2022. respectively. The re-exports of the top 10 partner nations recorded a growth of 16.5 per cent. Re-exports of the rest of the world recorded a growth of 12 pr cent compared with the first half of 2024.

The UAE's imports of non-oil goods amounted to Dh969.3 billion during the first half of 2025, a growth rate of 22.5 per cent compared to the same period in 2024, while the UAE's imports from the top 10 trading partners increased by 20.8 per cent and with the rest of the world by 24.3 per cent.