Summary
- Share of its imports
- 20.9%
- Value imported
- $64.7billion
- Rank among its suppliers
- 1st
- Products where it sells over 50%
- 221
- Products where it sells over 75%
- 69
- Dominated value
- $22.6billion
- Share of total imports
- 7.3%
Trend
Trend in shares
China went from 4.9% to 20.9% of what the United Arab Emirates buys
Share (%)
- China 20.9%
Source: CEPII BACI
Show the numbers
| Year | Value (USD millions) | Share | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | 1,100 | 4.9% | 10 |
| 1996 | 1,074 | 4.5% | 9 |
| 1997 | 1,292 | 5% | 8 |
| 1998 | 1,291 | 4.6% | 8 |
| 1999 | 1,444 | 5.1% | 9 |
| 2000 | 2,078 | 6.5% | 5 |
| 2001 | 2,377 | 6.6% | 5 |
| 2002 | 3,441 | 8.2% | 2 |
| 2003 | 5,036 | 9.7% | 1 |
| 2004 | 6,841 | 10.5% | 1 |
| 2005 | 7,324 | 9.3% | 2 |
| 2006 | 11,404 | 10.8% | 2 |
| 2007 | 13,805 | 11.3% | 1 |
| 2008 | 18,803 | 11.2% | 1 |
| 2009 | 18,568 | 13.4% | 2 |
| 2010 | 21,234 | 13.5% | 2 |
| 2011 | 26,812 | 13.9% | 2 |
| 2012 | 33,618 | 13.6% | 1 |
| 2013 | 22,317 | 10.7% | 2 |
| 2014 | 28,493 | 13.3% | 1 |
| 2015 | 27,927 | 13.6% | 1 |
| 2016 | 26,130 | 12.6% | 1 |
| 2017 | 47,937 | 17.8% | 1 |
| 2018 | 38,658 | 15.1% | 1 |
| 2019 | 42,304 | 16% | 1 |
| 2020 | 41,256 | 18.1% | 1 |
| 2021 | 54,859 | 19.3% | 1 |
| 2022 | 67,393 | 19.8% | 1 |
| 2023 | 77,859 | 19.9% | 1 |
| 2024 | 64,659 | 20.9% | 1 |
Products where China sells more than half
| Product | Supplier | Share | Second | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hot-rolled flat steel | China | 71% | Japan · 11.3% | $1.7 billion |
| Air conditioners | China | 62% | Thailand · 14.6% | $1 billion |
| Synthetic filament fabric | China | 65.1% | India · 8.9% | $912 million |
| New tires | China | 51% | Japan · 10.9% | $859 million |
| Lamps and light fittings | China | 71.6% | Italy · 5.4% | $819 million |
| Rubber and plastic footwear | China | 83%over 75% | India · 3.5% | $643 million |
| Video game consoles and games | China | 67.3% | United Kingdom · 8.4% | $615 million |
| Video recorders and players | China | 53.3% | Hong Kong · 7.4% | $591 million |
| Toys | China | 85.8%over 75% | Czechia · 7% | $560 million |
| Diodes, transistors and solar cells | China | 89.7%over 75% | India · 4.6% | $546 million |
| Electric heaters and hair dryers | China | 57.3% | Germany · 6.8% | $506 million |
| Polyethers, polyesters and epoxy resins | China | 56.3% | India · 11% | $501 million |
| Coated flat steel | China | 77.1%over 75% | India · 9.7% | $479 million |
| Phones and telecom equipment | China | 57.6% | Hong Kong · 11.1% | $429 million |
| Vehicle bodies and cabs | China | 89.9%over 75% | Japan · 4.6% | $403 million |
| Industrial fatty acids and oils | China | 51.1% | United States · 11.6% | $325 million |
| Aluminum sheet | China | 56.5% | Thailand · 13.5% | $311 million |
| Coated paper | China | 61.3% | India · 16.8% | $298 million |
| Screws, bolts and nuts | China | 51% | India · 12.2% | $296 million |
| Aluminum foil | China | 86.7%over 75% | India · 3.1% | $283 million |
| Plastic packaging | China | 59.9% | India · 14.5% | $279 million |
| Home appliances | China | 67.6% | Germany · 12.9% | $270 million |
| Cold-rolled flat steel | China | 93.9%over 75% | Japan · 1.9% | $266 million |
| Women's knitted suits and dresses | China | 59.3% | India · 6.6% | $247 million |
| Carbon electrodes | China | 75.3%over 75% | Japan · 10.6% | $244 million |
| Plywood | China | 85.2%over 75% | Indonesia · 5.6% | $239 million |
| Other knitted fabric | China | 73.2% | Taiwan · 12.8% | $226 million |
| Earthmoving and drilling machines | China | 61.5% | Germany · 10.2% | $225 million |
| Paper boxes and packaging | China | 63.3% | Germany · 12.1% | $220 million |
| Plastic tableware and household items | China | 66.3% | Turkey · 5.7% | $216 million |
and 191 more
A product has a dominant supplier when a single country sells more than 50% of what is bought of it; we flag it separately above 75%.
Are there other suppliers in the world?
- China sells 28.1% of what the world exports of hot-rolled flat steel; next come Japan (13.9%), South Korea (9%) and Germany (4.5%). The rest of the world exported 27.9 times what the United Arab Emirates buys from China.
- China sells 39.4% of what the world exports of air conditioners; next come Thailand (11.7%), Mexico (11.7%) and United States (4.2%). The rest of the world exported 40.9 times what the United Arab Emirates buys from China.
- China sells 61.9% of what the world exports of synthetic filament fabric; next come Taiwan (4.8%), South Korea (4.5%) and India (3.3%). The rest of the world exported 11.4 times what the United Arab Emirates buys from China.
- China sells 22.8% of what the world exports of new tires; next come Thailand (8%), Japan (6%) and Germany (5.3%). The rest of the world exported 90.1 times what the United Arab Emirates buys from China.
- China sells 59.2% of what the world exports of lamps and light fittings; next come Germany (4.7%), Mexico (4%) and Italy (3.6%). The rest of the world exported 25 times what the United Arab Emirates buys from China.
- China sells 50.6% of what the world exports of rubber and plastic footwear; next come Vietnam (16.4%), Indonesia (6%) and Germany (3.8%). The rest of the world exported 31.3 times what the United Arab Emirates buys from China.
- China sells 58.5% of what the world exports of video game consoles and games; next come Japan (6.7%), United States (5.3%) and Germany (3.3%). The rest of the world exported 22 times what the United Arab Emirates buys from China.
- China sells 35.8% of what the world exports of video recorders and players; next come Vietnam (8.4%), Thailand (8.3%) and Japan (6.1%). The rest of the world exported 54.6 times what the United Arab Emirates buys from China.
- China sells 66.3% of what the world exports of toys; next come Vietnam (5.8%), Czechia (4.1%) and Mexico (2.6%). The rest of the world exported 35.6 times what the United Arab Emirates buys from China.
- China sells 39.2% of what the world exports of diodes, transistors and solar cells; next come Malaysia (8.6%), Japan (7.4%) and Vietnam (5.9%). The rest of the world exported 149.8 times what the United Arab Emirates buys from China.
Exports from the rest of the world already have buyers; the figure shows scale, not availability.
Seen from China
The United Arab Emirates is China’s 18th-largest customer, with 1.8% of its exports.
Links
- Trade between the United Arab Emirates and China
- Who does the United Arab Emirates rely on?
- Who does China rely on?
- Dependence of the United Arab Emirates on India
- Dependence of the United Arab Emirates on Saudi Arabia
- Dependence of the United Arab Emirates on Brazil
- Dependence of the United Arab Emirates on Australia
- Dependence of the United Arab Emirates on Switzerland
- Dependence of the United Arab Emirates on the United States
- Dependence of the United Arab Emirates on Hong Kong
- Trade profile of the United Arab Emirates
- Trade profile of China
- All countries
Sources and method
Sources and licenses
- CEPII BACI · Licence Ouverte Etalab 2.0
- Natural Earth · Public domain
Methodology
The data come from CEPII BACI (Etalab 2.0 licence), which reconciles what the exporting and the importing country report, in current USD, FOB. Data up to 2024.
Dependence is the share of a country’s imports (or exports) that each partner accounts for. It does not measure whether a product has a substitute or how much it would cost to change supplier.
The concentration index (HHI) adds up the square of each partner’s share, in percent: it runs from 0 to 10,000. Its equivalent is 10,000 ÷ HHI, the number of partners of the same size that would give that value.
Products are HS4 headings of the 1992 nomenclature (some combine different goods), with a floor of $1 million per product and country.
The EU is the 27 current members in every year; the United Kingdom is outside the EU throughout the series.
Re-exports: countries that act as redistribution hubs carry their notice and the figures are not corrected.