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UAE flag (FlagPictures.org)A federation of 7 Western Asian emirates covering the south end of the Arabian Peninsula in the Persian Gulf, the United Arab Emirates shipped US$350.6 billion worth of exported products around the world in 2025.
That calculated dollar amount reflects an -17.5% setback compared to $425.2 billion five years earlier in 2021.
Year over year, the total value of goods exported from the UAE shrank by -20.2% from $439.4 billion during 2024.
UAE Most Valuable Trading Partners
The latest available country-specific data prorated from 2024 shows that 85.9% of products exported from the UAE was bought by importers in: India (16.1% of the UAE total), Iraq (12.4%), Saudi Arabia (12.3%), mainland China (8.2%), Türkiye (7.4%), Hong Kong (6.5%), Switzerland (5.1%), United States of America (4.4%), Oman (4.1%), Kuwait (3.9%), Qatar (3.2%) and Iran (2.3%).
From a continental perspective, 74.5% of UAE exports by value was delivered to fellow Asian countries while 10.9% was sold to Europe importers.
UAE shipped another 10% worth of goods to buyers in Africa.
Smaller percentages went to customers based in North America (3.8%), Latin America (0.5%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean, then Oceania (0.3%) led by Australia and New Zealand.
Given the UAE’s population of 11.1 million people, its total US$350.6 billion in 2025 exports translates to roughly $31,600 for every resident in the sovereign absolute monarchy. That dollar metric exceeds the average $28,150 in exports per capita in 2024.
The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in UAE global shipments during 2025. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from the UAE.
- Mineral fuels including oil: US$156.4 billion (44.6% of total exports)
- Gems, precious metals: $130.8 billion (37.3%)
- Aluminum: $9.1 billion (2.6%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: $6.9 billion (2%)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: $4.4 billion (1.3%)
- Inorganic chemicals: $4.3 billion (1.2%)
- Machinery including computers: $3.7 billion (1.1%)
- Copper: $3.6 billion (1%)
- Salt, sulphur, stone, cement: $3.2 billion (0.9%)
- Perfumes, cosmetics: $2.6 billion (0.7%)
The UAE’s top 10 exported product categories accounted for 92.7% of the overall value of its global shipments.
Inorganic chemicals represent the fastest grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 1,225% since 2024.
In second place for improving export sales was salt, sulphur, stone and cement which rose 158.2%.
UAE’s shipments of aluminum posted the third-fastest gain in value, up by 33.1% year over year.
The leading decliner among UAE’s top 10 export categories was machinery including computers which fell -91.8% from 2024.
The above listed product categories are at the two-digit Harmonized Tariff System (HTS) code level.
Drilling down to the more detailed four-digit HTS codes, the UAE’s 6 biggest exported goods generated over four-fifths (82.8%) of the Middle Eastern nation’s overall revenue stream from international sales in 2025.
The top 6 exported products are unwrought gold (32.4% of total), crude oil (30.4%), processed petroleum oils (9.6%), petroleum gases (3.8%), unmounted diamonds (3.8%) and raw aluminum (2.2%).
Products Generating the UAE’s Biggest Trade Surpluses
The following types of UAE product shipments represent positive net exports or a trade balance surplus. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports.
In a nutshell, net exports represent the amount by which foreign spending on a home country’s goods or services exceeds or lags the home country’s spending on foreign goods or services.
- Mineral fuels including oil: US$145.4 billion (Up by 37.1% since 2024)
- Gems, precious metals: $61 billion (Reversing a -$25.6 billion deficit)
- Aluminum: $7.3 billion (Up by 39.3%)
- Salt, sulphur, stone, cement: $2.9 billion (Up by 261.4%)
- Inorganic chemicals: $1.3 billion (Reversing a -$660.2 million deficit)
- Copper: $1 billion (Reversing a -$247.7 million deficit)
- Fertilizers: $971.6 million (Reversing a -$37.8 million deficit)
- Plastics, plastic articles: $352.4 million (Reversing a -$244.7 million deficit)
- Lead: $76.1 million (Up by 1484.9%)
- Vegetable plaiting materials: -$4.6 million (Reversing a -$2.9 million deficit)
Historically, the UAE records highly positive net exports in the international trade of petroleum oils–both crude and refined oils. In turn, these cashflows indicate UAE’s strong competitive advantages under the mineral fuels including oil product category.
Products Causing the UAE’s Worst Trade Deficits
The UAE racked up an estimated -US$12.2 billion product trade deficit for 2025 accelerating by 132% from -$5.2 billion in red ink one year earlier in 2024.
Below are exports from the UAE that result in negative net exports or product trade balance deficits. These negative net exports reveal product categories where foreign spending on home country UAE’s goods trail UAE import spending on foreign products.
- Electrical machinery, equipment: -US$56 billion (Up by 109.7% since 2024)
- Machinery including computers: -$40.3 billion (Up by 203.6%)
- Vehicles: -$33.4 billion (Up by 71.4%)
- Aircraft, spacecraft: -$10.5 billion (Reversing a $2.2 billion surplus)
- Ships, boats: -$5.4 billion (Reversing a $339.1 million surplus)
- Articles of iron or steel: -$5.3 billion (Up by 757.4%)
- Optical, technical, medical apparatus: -$5.2 billion (Up by 103%)
- Pharmaceuticals: -$4.1 billion (Down by -10.3%)
- Furniture, bedding, lighting, signs, prefab buildings: -$3.4 billion (Up by 80.9%)
- Meat: -$3 billion (Up by 31.8%)
UAE has highly negative net exports and therefore deep international trade deficits under the machinery-related product categories.
Major Companies Headquartered in the UAE
Ten UAE business entities rank among Forbes Global 2000. The world-class UAE companies are listed in descending order starting with those with the highest dollar value in annual revenues.
- First Abu Dhabi Bank (banking services)
- Etisalat (telecom services, equipment)
- Emirates NBD (regional bank)
- Emaar Properties (real estate)
- DP World (marine terminal operations)
- Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (regional bank)
- Dubai Islamic Bank (regional bank)
- Mashreq Bank (regional bank)
- Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (regional bank)
- Union National Bank (regional bank)
Wikipedia lists exports-related companies located in the UAE. Selected examples from the energy sector are shown below, this time listed in alphabetical order.
- ADNOC Gas Processing (state-owned natural gas)
- Abu Dhabi National Energy Co (state-owned holding company)
- Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (state-owned petroleum)
- Dana Gas (privately-owned natural gas)
In macroeconomic terms, the United Arab Emirates exported goods worth 38.7% of its overall Gross Domestic Product for 2025 ($905.2 billion valued in Purchasing Power Parity US dollars). That 38.7% for exports to overall GDP in PPP for 2025 compares to 36.5% for 2024. Those percentages suggest a relatively increasing reliance on products sold on international markets for UAE’s total economic performance, albeit based on a short timeframe.
Another key indicator of a country’s economic performance is its unemployment rate. UAE’s unemployment rate averaged 2.17% for 2025, up from an average 2.13% one year earlier for 2024 per Trading Economics statistics.
The UAE’s capital city is Abu Dhabi.
See also Gold Exports by Country Plus Average Prices, Coal Exports by Country, Crude Oil Exports by Country and Petroleum Gas Exports by Country
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook: Middle East: United Arab Emirates. Accessed on May 24, 2026
FlagPictures.org, Flag of UAE. Accessed on May 24, 2026
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, United Arab Emirates’ Biggest Companies. Accessed on May 24, 2026
Foreign Trade , United States Census Bureau. Accessed on May 24, 2026
International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on May 24, 2026
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on May 24, 2026
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on May 24, 2026
Wikipedia, Gross domestic product. Accessed on May 24, 2026
Wikipedia, List of Companies of UAE. Accessed on May 24, 2026
Wikipedia, Purchasing power parity. Accessed on May 24, 2026
Wikipedia, United Arab Emirates. Accessed on May 24, 2026
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