UAE Non-Oil Trade Passes Dh2.945 Trillion in Nine Months as Exports Jump 21.6%

Exports grew more than twice as fast. Non-oil exports reached about Dh706 billion, up 21.6%, and now make up 24.0% of the country's non-oil trade, Al Zeyoudi said during a session at the UAE Government Annual Meetings 2026 in Abu Dhabi, according to the state news agency WAM. A faster rise in exports than in overall trade means more of the growth is coming from goods made in or shipped from the UAE, rather than from the re-export and import flows that have long dominated its trade.

The nine-month figure follows the Dh1.937 trillion the ministry reported for the first half of the year, so trade in the third quarter came to roughly Dh1 trillion.

Al Zeyoudi also gave investment figures for 2025. UAE investment abroad totalled $402.7 billion, he said, while foreign direct investment into the country came to $63.4 billion.

He said air transport now carries most of the UAE's trade by value. Its share rose from 49.8% in 2024 to 62.3% in the first half of 2026, compared with 16.1% for sea freight, and Emirati air cargo networks serve more than 200 destinations. The minister presented the shift as evidence of air freight's growing weight in national supply chains. The session was framed around keeping the UAE a reliable trading partner. Over the same period, shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has been repeatedly disrupted by attacks.

AI in Trade Policy

Al Zeyoudi said artificial intelligence and advanced analytics have become central to how the ministry runs trade policy. He said it uses them to analyse trade performance, identify emerging markets and export opportunities, anticipate shifts in global demand and trade patterns, and shape trade and investment policy based on data.

The ministry is automating how it collects trade data and produces reports, he said. It is also building interactive analysis tools for government bodies and private companies, and applying AI to assess performance and spot risks and new opportunities. He said it also gives exporters market information and practical guidance, and runs training programmes with global logistics companies.

Capital Markets Draw Foreign Money

Faisal bin Sulaiten, chief executive of the Dubai Centre for Economic Security, told the same session that economic security goes beyond supplying the domestic market and includes protecting the country's reputation as a dependable trading partner. He said national companies had kept their commitments to overseas customers while the UAE also met its own needs.

Bin Sulaiten pointed to capital markets as one measure of that trust. He said the Dubai Financial Market drew more than 42,000 new investors in the first half of this year, 71% of them from outside the UAE. Institutional investors, including portfolios, banks and pension funds, accounted for more than 70% of trading value, and 51% of that came from abroad.

He said DIP Holding's Dh2 billion share sale last week was the first major IPO in the region to be fully covered within an hour and a half.

The ministry has not yet published a full breakdown of nine-month trade by partner or product. Earlier releases have included one, and that detail would show which markets and goods drove the 21.6% rise in exports.