Kingdom, UAE dominate Turkish-GCC trade
Apart from a cyclically driven correction in 2008-2009, Turkish trade relations with the GCC have expanded fairly rapidly in recent years. Overall Turkish-GCC trade rose more than ten-fold from $1.5 billion in 1999 to $16.1 billion in 2008. This figure declined to $7.8 billion in 2009 but rebounded to $10.0 billion in 2010.
Trade partners
The UAE is now one of Turkey's ten largest trade partners. Turkey is Dubai's 18th largest trade partner and Dubai's nonoil trade with Turkey reached AED8.8 billion in 2010. Total Turkish imports from the GCC economies in 2010 rose to $3.6 billion, a figure that expanded further to $3.9 billion in January-October 2011. Trade flows in the opposite direction stood at $6.4 billion in 2010, as compared to $5.9 billion in the first ten months of 2011. In spite of its reliance on GCC energy, Turkey has been fairly consistently running a substantial trade surplus in its commerce with the GCC economies, the report said.
Turkish-GCC trade is still heavily dominated by the two leading Gulf economies, Saudi Arabia and the UAE which in 2010 jointly accounted for some 86 percent of GCC exports to Turkey and an identical share of Turkish imports. Saudi Arabia has remained the most important source of Turkish imports from the Gulf.
There are 500 Turkish companies operating in the UAE. The most popular products the UAE exports to Turkey include pearls, precious metals and stones, plastics, aluminium, boilers and machinery, essential oil and vehicles, according to a recent DCCI