A report of Abu Dhabi’s manufacturing sector showed a growth rate of 5.9%

Media IN Abu Dhabi:27th May 2019

The industrial sector in Abu Dhabi has witnessed an outstanding growth within 2018 as the growth rate of manufacturing industries has increased to 5.9% and 42 industrial facilities entered production with a total investment of AED 12.3 billion in line with an increase in commodity exports and licenses issued.

The manufacturing sector of non-oil GDP has become the third largest contributor in GDP’s non-oil industries in Abu Dhabi with an added value of AED 49.3 billion in 2018 compared to AED 46.5 billion in 2017 according to the preliminary estimates of Statistics Center-Abu Dhabi.

The manufacturing industries showed a growth rate of 5.9% that reflects the vital role of this major sector as an effective contributor that achieved a remarkable growth in the emirate’s non-oil economy within the past 5 years as its contribution in non-oil GDP increased from 11.5% in 2017 to 12.1% in 2018.

This was reflected in in the report issued by the Industrial Development Bureau of the Department of Economic Development (DED) on the industrial sector’s performance in Abu Dhabi in 2018. The report showed that 42 industrial facilities entered production in Abu Dhabi during the past year with total investments of AED 12.3 billion compared to 37 facilities in 2017 with total investments of AED 5.2 billion, with a value increase of 136.5%.

H.E. Saif Mohamed Al Hajeri, Chairman of Abu Dhabi DED noted that manufacturing is among the leading sectors that are driving sustainable economic development in Abu Dhabi, in line with the government’s goals to boost non-oil sector activities and increase its contribution to Abu Dhabi’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Al Hajeri further explained that the industrial sector is among the top-performing sectors which effectively contributes to the sustainability of the local economy and a key pillar towards achieving economic competitiveness and leadership at the regional and global level, in line with Abu Dhabi’s long-term economic vision.

The report showed also that the number of new licenses, that are expected to increase production in the next years, reached 118 licenses in the past year with an investment of AED 2.3 billion compared to 86 licenses in 2017 with an increase of 37.2% in terms of number of licenses as it’s expected that there will be an increase in the numbers of small and medium-sized enterprises.

According to the report, the exports of the manufacturing industries witnessed high growth rates in 2018 as it increased from AED 22.8 billion in 2017 to AED 24.8 billion in 2018, with an increase of 8.8%.

The report pointed out that such results reflect the high competitiveness of the emirate’s non-oil products and its big opportunity to access international markets due to the development of manufacturing industries’ performance in the emirate in 2018, recording the highest growth of added value within all economic activities after agriculture sector that reached 5.9% at constant prices.

Conversely, the growth rate of imports of the manufacturing industries increased in 2018 from AED 39 billion in 2017 to AED 41 billion in 2018, with an increase of 5.2%.

Generally, the 2018’s report by the Industrial Development Bureau stated that the industrial licenses registered in Abu Dhabi are distributed according to the type of the activity. The structural and glass industries reached 23.3% of the total number of licenses, metal industries 19.3%, chemical industries 9.7%, rubber, plastic, and fiberglass industries 9.5%, equipment and machines 8.7%, wood and paper 7.9%, foods 7.7%, electricity and electronic industries 3.2%, sustainability and energy industries 3.0%, textile, clothing and leather 3.0%, printing and media industries 0.17%, general industries 4.3% of the total number of licenses.

The report added that The Industrial Development Bureau concluded 27,848 transactions including 25,598 transactions for customs duty exemptions, 949 transactions for issuing new licenses, 806 transactions for technical modifications, 393 transactions for fees payments, 154 transactions for administrative modifications, and 125 transactions for issuing new industrial licenses.

Eng. Ahmed Hilal Al Baloushi, Acting Executive Director of the Industrial Development Bureau, stressed that the Bureau is implementing a number of initiatives that contribute in developing the industrial sector in Abu Dhabi through improving the business environment, reducing the operational costs and increasing demand for local product