UAE strengthens position as Oman’s top trading partner

• $3.8bn of commerce in first quarter
• Imports up 10%, exports up 31%
• Food depots facilitate bilateral trade

Oman’s trade with the UAE rose 13 percent to almost $3.8 billion in the first quarter of this year, making up more than a quarter (27 percent) of the sultanate’s non-oil commerce.

Oman’s Gulf neighbour was its top trading partner for both imports and exports, according to Oman’s National Center for Statistical Information (NCSI).

Imports from the UAE were up 10 percent at $2.8 billion on the first quarter of 2025, and exports up 31 percent at $990 million, NCSI said.

The sultanate’s shipments to the UAE amounted to 23 percent of its overall exports, while imports from the UAE were about 30 percent of its total.

The two countries mainly exchanged electrical materials, machinery, food, minerals and chemicals between January and March this year, according to NCSI.

Oman’s other main trading partners are Saudi Arabia, China, South Korea, India and the UK.

NCSI did not disclose why trade between the two Gulf neighbours was higher, but analysts say Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz at the end of February increased the UAE’s reliance on road transport from Oman.

“The food depots put up by Oman near the two countries’ border are making their bilateral trade easier [and] also cheaper because of the close proximity [by] road,” Abdulaziz Alfarsi, an analyst at the Oman Logistics Association, told AGBI.

Oman has set up food depots as part of a secure supply chain to its Gulf neighbours via land borders, bypassing maritime routes targeted by Iranian drone attacks.

The depots are in the northern city of Sohar, close to the UAE border. They will connect with the $2.5 billion Hafeet railway between Oman and the UAE, which the two countries started to build in May last year.

The Israeli-US conflict with Iran has affected all countries in the region, severely restricting supplies within the GCC states after Tehran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz.

Further reading:

• Oman-UAE rail network is 40% complete
• AD Ports unit to run UAE-Oman freight rail service
• Rail link to UAE will supercharge Oman’s port city of Sohar