DUBAI: Dubai foreign food trade saw a major rise of 13.3 per cent in 2014, amounting to AED89 billion from AED79bn in 2013, fresh government data reveals.
The emirate’s imports of foodstuffs stood at AED58bn while exports totalled AED13.4bn, the United Arab Emirates News Agency (WAM) reports.
According to figures published by Dubai Customs, the value of foodstuffs re-exports (the process of re-exporting already imported goods) reached AED17.7bn.
Sugar was the top imported and exported commodity with imports of AED4bn and exports of AED1.5bn.
Other top food imports included milk at AED2.8bn and rice at AED2.7bn, the data indicates.
The second largest commodity the emirate exported in the past year in terms of value was chocolate, with exports amounting to AED1.3bn, followed by milk at AED831 million.
With regard to re-exports, nuts came first with a value of AED1.4bn.
Director of Dubai Customs, Ahmed Mahboob Musabih, said that the food trade is a vital sector whereby the department makes sure to ensure speedy flow of foodstuffs to the markets to prevent price hikes, especially during the holy month of Ramadan.
