Dubai is considered one of the most rapidly growing textile manufacturing centers in the Middle East, with the single largest textile market internationally in terms of volume and variety. Industry sources assess the overall value of fabric exchanges in the UAE, including exports and imports, at Dh 12 billion ($3.2 billion) per annum.
In a bid to enhance the emirate’s textile trading, as well as to stimulate incoming tourism, the Dubai Ports and Customs Department (DPCD) has recently announced that a new fabrics commerce venture, the Dubai Textile City, will soon be established. Goods moving through the facility would be exempt from duty.
The first of its kind in the region and biggest in the world, the venture’s initial phase of construction will begin in September 2001, and it is expected to become operational by end-2002. The five million square meter complex, situated in the Ras Al-Khur area, is designed to house 295 fabric outlets and warehouses.
The costs of the complex are estimated at 130 million Emirati dirhams ($35.4 million), according to the DPCD chief executive, Sultan Ahmad Salim, as reported by Al-Ittihad. The venture will be set up with private financing of the Textile Merchants Association (Texmas), on land provided by the Dubai government.
The Dubai Textile City will include a meeting hall, an exhibition center, banks, clearing and forwarding offices and accommodation for overseas buyers. The facility will be offered only to the 300 Texmas members, reported Gulf News.
Textile commodities make up a major portion of the UAE’s non-oil external trade. Textile and garment imports to the UAE as a whole amounted to $6.55 billion in the year 2000. In the emirate of Dubai itself, there are 180 textile factories exporting $400 million worth of garments per year, mainly to USA and Europe. Dubai imports about $2.98 billion worth of textile goods annually, which make about up 20 percent its the total imports. — (MENA Report)
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
