UAE non-oil trade reached AED 1.937 trillion in the first half of 2026. That is a record, and it is up 13.1 percent on last year. It also happened while the Strait of Hormuz was closed to most shipping.
Those two facts sit oddly together. The answer is in the split between what the country sold and what it bought.
What the UAE non-oil trade figures show
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid reviewed the numbers on 19 July. UAE non-oil trade came close to AED 2 trillion in six months, or about $527 billion.
Non-oil exports hit a record AED 452.8 billion, up 23.9 percent. Exports now make up 23.4 percent of all UAE non-oil trade. That share was 16.9 percent in 2023.
The FOUAE calculation on UAE non-oil trade
Split the total and a clearer picture appears.
Exports grew 23.9 percent. Everything else, meaning imports and re-exports, grew about 10.2 percent. So growth was led by goods going out, not goods coming in.
That fits the year. Inbound shipping was the leg under strain. Outbound cargo had more routes and fewer waiting queues.
Why a closed strait did not stop UAE non-oil trade
Four things explain the gap. None of them is a trick.
Two of the six months were normal. The war began on 28 February. So January and February ran clean, and they carry a third of the half.
Ports outside the strait took the load. Fujairah and Khor Fakkan sit on the Gulf of Oman. The rerouting that kept cargo moving worked, and AD Ports built around it all year.
Value is not volume. These are value figures. Freight rose, war-risk cover rose sharply, and prices moved. So a record in dirhams can hide flat or lower tonnage.
Air freight is immune. High-value goods such as gold and electronics fly. A sea chokepoint does not touch them.
Gold matters more here than most people assume. It is heavy in value and light in volume, and the UAE moves a great deal of it. A single plane can carry a sum that would need a ship elsewhere. So the goods most able to dodge a closed strait are also the goods that lift a trade figure fastest.
The one that deserves most weight
The value point is the one to hold on to. War-risk premiums moved from about 0.25 percent of hull value to between 3 and 10 percent this year.
Every dirham of that cost lands in the landed value of goods. So part of this UAE non-oil trade record measures a more costly year, not a busier one. Nobody is hiding that. It simply is not in the headline.
What the CEPA numbers really say
The trade deals are doing work, but not the work most coverage claims.
Non-oil trade with fully in-force CEPA partners reached AED 304.3 billion. That is about 15.7 percent of all UAE non-oil trade.
The ratio worth noting
Imports from those partners came to AED 193.5 billion. Exports to them came to AED 66.1 billion.
So the UAE buys close to three dirhams from CEPA partners for every one it sells them. Exports are 21.7 percent of that trade, up from 19.1 percent in 2022. The direction is right. The balance is still heavily one way.
Why the export shift matters more than the record
Records make headlines. But mix changes build economies.
Export share has climbed each year: 16.9 percent in 2023, 18.4 percent in 2024, 21.3 percent in the first half of 2025, and 23.4 percent now. That is a slow, steady move from moving goods to making them.
What UAE non-oil trade means for founders
A trade hub earns a margin on flow. A producer earns a margin on value. The second is harder to build and much harder to lose.
Flow can be rerouted. A port in Oman or a hub in Saudi Arabia can take it. But a factory, a brand and a trained workforce do not move because a rival cut fees. That is the whole case for the export shift.
So the rising export share is the real signal in UAE non-oil trade. It says the country is getting better at selling things, not just at handling them. Firms in light manufacturing, food processing and packaging sit directly in that path.
The case for caution
Read the record with care, and three doubts are fair.
Base effects flatter it. Growth of 78.8 percent since 2022 partly reflects a low base, and also a strong global rebound.
Trade value tracks prices. In a year of high freight and insurance costs, value rises without more goods moving.
Re-exports are counted twice in spirit. A good that lands, sits and leaves adds to both sides of the ledger. It is real business, and it is thinner business than making something.
None of this makes the record false. It makes it worth reading closely, which is not the same thing.
What would settle it
Volume data would. Tonnage and container counts show whether more goods moved, or whether the same goods cost more.
Those figures get published later and with less fanfare. Anyone serious about UAE non-oil trade should wait for them before drawing firm conclusions.
What to watch next in UAE non-oil trade
Three markers over the coming year.
Watch whether export share passes 25 percent. That would confirm the shift is structural, not a war-year quirk. Watch Fujairah and Khor Fakkan capacity, since the ownership moves at AD Ports point at years of building there. Then watch the CEPA import-to-export ratio, because a fall from three to one would show the deals working in both directions.
The record is real. So is the strait. The gap between them is mostly explained by exports, alternative ports and higher prices, and that is a more useful story than the number alone.
Frequently Asked Questions
It reached AED 1.937 trillion, about $527 billion, up 13.1 percent on the same period in 2025. That is the first time the figure has approached AED 2 trillion within a six-month period.
Growth was export-led. Exports rose 23.9 percent while imports and re-exports grew about 10.2 percent. January and February were unaffected, ports outside the strait absorbed cargo, and higher freight and insurance costs lifted trade value.
Non-oil exports reached a record AED 452.8 billion in the first half of 2026, up 23.9 percent year on year and 77.3 percent above the first half of 2024. They now make up 23.4 percent of total non-oil trade.
Trade with fully in-force CEPA partners reached AED 304.3 billion, roughly 15.7 percent of the total. Imports from those partners were AED 193.5 billion against exports of AED 66.1 billion.
Sources
Sources: Emirates News Agency WAM, Mohammed bin Rashid: UAE Non-Oil Foreign Trade Approaches AED2 Trillion in H1 2026, July 2026; Dubai Media Office, same release, July 2026; Khaleej Times, UAE Non-Oil Trade Nears Dh2T in H1 as Exports Hit Record, July 2026; Economy Middle East, UAE Non-Oil Trade Grows 13.1 Percent to $527.43 Billion, July 2026; Business Today ME, UAE Non-Oil Foreign Trade Nears AED2 Trillion, July 2026; IMF PortWatch, Strait of Hormuz transit data, August 2026; The National, shipping insurance coverage, July 2026. The export versus non-export growth split is a FOUAE calculation from the published totals.
Founders of UAE (FOUAE) is an independent, digital-first business publication covering the founders, companies and economy of the United Arab Emirates. Follow FOUAE on Instagram and LinkedIn.
