TheUAE leads the GCC as the largest exporter of petrochemicals and aluminum to non-Arab African markets, according to a study published by the UAE Ministry on ‘Competitiveness of UAE Petrochemicals and Aluminum exports to non-Arab African markets’. 

According to the report, the UAE’s aluminum and petrochemicals exports to African non-Arab countries in 2012 stood at US$6.5 billion, accounting for only 1.8 percent of their total imports which stood at US$352 billion in the same year.

In 2012, five African countriesincluding South Africa, Nigeria, Mozambique, Ghana and Angolareceived 61 percent or US$3.9 billion of the UAE's total aluminum and petrochemical exports to the continent, with South Africa at the top of the list with US$1.08 billion, followed by Nigeria with US$1.03 billion.

More specifically, the study indicates that the UAE’s petrochemicals exports to African non-Arab countries stood at US$249 million, accounting for 2.6 percent of their total imports of US$9.5 billion.

The UAE was the 16th largest petrochemicals exporter to South Africa with US$44 million covering only 2 percent of the African country's demand.China emerged as South Africa's top exporter with a 17 percent share, or US$391 million, of the African country's total petrochemicals imports.

The UAE petrochemical exports to Nigeria, meanwhile, stood at US$26 million in 2012 constituting 1.7 per cent of the market.

With regards to Tanzania, the UAE is the third largest exporter with a share of 11 per cent at a value of US$50 million. These exports grew by 40 per cent during the period 2008-2012. The study also highlighted that the market holds immense opportunities for further expansion and double the petrochemical exports from the UAE.

The study also ranks theUAEas one of the top ten aluminum exporters to the non-Arab African countries.

In 2012, the five African countries imported US$1.8 billion of aluminum or 73 percent of the continent's total imports of the material in the same year. The UAE’s aluminum exports to South Africa, Nigeria, Mozambique, Ghana and Angolastood at US$38 million in 2012, or 1.5 percent of their total exports valued at US$2.6 billion in the same year.

In 2012, South Africa's aluminum imports stood at US$494 million of which US$12 were from the UAE.In the same year, the UAE's aluminum exports to Mozambique stood at US$5 million.

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