October 18-2013
Dubai once-flourishing non-oil trade with Iran has sunk 40 percent since 2011, according to Dubai trade statistics.
Dubai’s non-oil trade with Iran shrank 12 percent in the first half of 2013, a sign that Western sanctions continue to inflict fresh damage on the Iranian economy.
Dubai, home to tens of thousands of ethnic Iranians, has long been a major commercial hub for the Iranian economy, re-exporting consumer goods from other countries to the Islamic Republic.
Two-way trade between Dubai and Iran, excluding oil, fell to 10.8 billion dirhams ($2.9 billion) in January-June from 12.3 billion dirhams in the same period of 2012, the Dubai customs authority said in a written answer to Reuters questions.
The drop slowed from a 31 percent plunge to 25 billion dirhams in all of 2012. Partly because of the sanctions, the Iranian rial lost about two-thirds of its value against the US dollar over the 18 months to late 2012, hurting Iran’s ability to pay for imports,
Iran now accounts for a mere 1.6 percent of Dubai’s total non-oil trade.
Re-exports to Iran dropped 13.5 percent to 9.0 billion dirhams in the first six months of this year, while Dubai’s exports were flat at 1.0 billion dirhams, the data showed.
Imports from Iran to Dubai, one of seven United Arab Emirates, fell to 766 million dirhams in January-June from 819 million dirhams a year earlier.