The UAE is the world’s third largest exporter of textiles, after USA and UK, according to study conducted by the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCI&S), Kolkata.

The UAE exported textiles worth $1623.76 million, representing 7.75% share of the global export market .

Mr. Midhat M. Abu Ghazaleh, CEO, Abughazaleh Trading Company, (ABCO) said that of the total textile global exports of over $ 20939.80 million, the UAE commands a share of 7.75%, which reflects strongly on the development of the country’s textile industry.

The UAE comes third after USA (20.38%) and UK (8.11%) and outstrips Germany (7.65%), France (4.46%), Italy (3.74%), Spain (3.08%), Netherlands (2.57%), Bangladesh (2.83%) and China (2.10%). These top ten occupy a combined share of 62.30% of the total global exports of textile.

The secret of textile industry success in the UAE is that the country sets up trends that others follow. The UAE has overcome the challenges of the global market such as volatility in price, rising input cost, energy crisis and lack of marketing exposure.

Comparing the UAE textile industry to India, the textile sector in India, for example, a rank next to agriculture and it is one of India’s oldest industries with a formidable weightage in the national economy, as it contributes 14 percent of manufacturing value-addition, accounting for nearly one-third of the gross export earnings and provides gainful employment to millions of people.

The textile industry is undergoing a major reorientation toward non-clothing applications, known as technical textiles, which are growing roughly at twice rate of textiles for clothing applications and now account for more than half of total textile production.

Technical textiles have many applications, including bedsheets; filtration and abrasive materials; furniture and healthcare upholstery; thermal protection and blood-absorbing materials; seatbelts; adhesive tape, and multiple other specialized products and applications.

Most of the production of jute, yarn, apparel, clothing and garments takes place in Asian countries like China and India, both leading manufacturers of textiles. The UAE, being strategically located as a border market to the major production areas, is doing very well, in re-exporting to all parts of the world. This can be attributed to the ease in logistics as well as the low costs of shipping in and out of the country.

The UAE textile industry is the largest trading sector in the country after oil, and is also one of the biggest employment providers in the industrial sector.