Fujairah free zone exports-imports to rise up to 4% this year

Thursday, Oct 29, 2015

Dubai: The value of goods coming in and out of the Fujairah Free Zone is expected to increase by 3 to 4 per cent this year, Director-General Sharief Habib Al Awadi told Gulf News on Thursday.

The free zone, located around 130km from Dubai, imported, exported and re-exported Dh8.4 billion worth of goods in 2014, he said at the Global Trade Development Week in Dubai.

Al Awadi did not given reason for the growth; however, a substantial amount of the business is related to the oil-bunkering terminal located with the free zone.

Fujairah is the United Arab Emirates’ only emirate located solely on the Gulf of Oman side of the Arabian Peninsula. Sharjah is the only emirate to include land that reaches the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman.

Al Awadi also did not say how increasing exports and imports this year will contribute to the free zone’s bottom line but did say the free zone contributes around 70 to 75 per cent of annual government revenue.

Next year, Fujairah Free Zone plans to grow the number of food and metals companies operating within the free zone, Al Awadi said, with plans to attract processing and storage businesses.

By Alexander Cornwell Staff Reporter