What does United Arab Emirates produce and export?

Abu Dhabi holds nearly all of the country's hydrocarbons. Its onshore fields yield Murban, a light, low-sulfur grade that is easy to refine and, unusually for the Gulf, is sold on a futures contract launched in 2021 rather than by monthly official price formula. The United Arab Emirates produced 4.2% of the world's crude oil in 2025 (Energy Institute) and held 8.6% of world crude export value in 2024 (CEPII BACI). A pipeline across the peninsula to Fujairah on the Gulf of Oman lets a large part of that oil load outside the Strait of Hormuz, which is a strategic rather than a commercial choice. Gas is produced with the oil, much of it sour and expensive to treat, and the country held 3.1% of world natural gas export value in 2024 (CEPII BACI) while also importing gas by pipeline from Qatar for domestic power.

Smelting was a deliberate use of that gas. Aluminum plants at Jebel Ali and Al Taweelah run on gas-fired electricity and on alumina refined locally from imported bauxite, so the metal is a manufactured export rather than a mined one. The Emirates produced 3.6% of the world's primary aluminum in 2025 (USGS) and held 9.3% of world aluminum export value in 2024 (CEPII BACI), a much larger share of the trade than of output because almost none of the metal is used at home.

Dubai's business is the movement of goods it does not make. There are no gold mines of consequence, yet the Emirates took 5.5% of world gold import value in 2024 (CEPII BACI) and shipped out 9.9% of world gold export value in the same year (CEPII BACI), the difference passing through refineries, the bullion market and a jewelry trade serving South Asia and Africa; the same free-zone infrastructure moves silver and platinum. Food works identically: a refinery at Jebel Ali buys raw cane sugar and sells white, and the country took 3.0% of world sugar import value in 2024 (CEPII BACI), a large figure for a population its size because much of it is destined for neighboring markets.