Viral Dubai Chocolate Drives UAE Market Growth Despite Record Cocoa Price Surge...

UAE News:

The popularity of the viral Dubai chocolate has led to purchase limits at high-end grocery chains abroad and queues at UAE retailers.

The UAE and EU agreed to launch free trade negotiations, focusing on trade in goods, services, investment and cooperation in strategic sectors (including renewable energy). The EU was the UAE’s second-largest trading partner, accounting for 8.3% of the UAE’s total non-oil trade last year.

Gross credit disbursed by the UAE banking sector grew by 0.2% MoM and 9.5% YoY to AED 2.1863trn in January. This was driven by growth in domestic credit (6.4% YoY to AED 1.848trn in January, and flat in MoM terms) and foreign credit (1.7% MoM and 30.7% YoY to AED 337.9bn). Loans disbursed to the business and industrial sector (at AED 853.9bn) accounted for almost 2/3-rds of credit to the private sector.

UAE and India signed eight strategic agreements to increase cooperation across sectors, including Infrastructure, Healthcare, Higher Education, Maritime Services, Logistics, and Private Sector engagement. UAE’s non-oil trade with India grew by 20.5% YoY to over AED 240bn in 2024, with India also UAE’s top non-oil export destination (13.5% of total, and +75.2% yoy).

Bilateral trade between the the UAE and New Zealand jumped to the equivalent of AED 2.86bn in 2024, according to the Minister of Trade for New Zealand, with the last quarter alone standing at around AED 880mn. He also revealed a 60% surge in the services sector as a result of cooperation and direct UAE investments in New Zealand crossed AED 440mn last year.

Hotel revenues in the UAE touched AED 45bn in 2024, up 3% YoY, according to the chairman of the Emirates Tourism Council, as occupancy rates surged to 78% and the number of hotels grew to 1251 (16 new hotels opened in 2024). The number of hotel guests ticked up by 10% YoY to almost 31mn and hotel rooms were up 3% to 216,966.

Dubai’s millionaire population doubled to 81,200 in 2024 compared to a decade ago, according to Henley & Partners and New World Wealth. The city was ranked the sixth fastest-growing wealth hubs and climbed to 18th place in the “Top 50 Cities for Millionaires”.

MENA News:

Plans for listing five military-affiliated companies in Egypt have been finalised by the Cabinet: these include the National Company for Producing and Bottling Water (Safi), Wataniya Petroleum, Fuel Station Operator Chillout, Food Production Company Silo Foods and the National Company for Roads Building and Development. IPOs and listings are expected over the next two years.

France committed to extending USD 4.39bn in financing to support Egypt, covering public and private sectors as well as development grants. According to the CEO of the General Authority for Investment and Free Zones, French investments in Egypt have exceeded USD 7bn, across more than 180 companies.

Iraq announced that November 11 has been set as the date for a parliamentary election.

Kuwait Oil Company approved a project to boost the production capacity of the Burgan oil field (the World’s second-largest oilfield) by 10% after its output fell (to around 1.7mn barrels per day from more than 2mn bpd) due to ageing, reported the newspaper Alseyassah.

Kuwait signed the design contract for the GCC-wide railway project with Turkish company Proyapi: the advisory period of the KWD 2.5mn consultancy contract is about a year, and the Kuwaiti part of the project is estimated to finish by 2030.

Saudi Arabia discovered 14 oil and natural gas fields with small volumes in the Eastern Region and Empty Quarter, according to the state news agency. Arabian oil of different grades totalling 8,126 barrels per day was found across 6 fields and 2 reservoirs; the natural gas finds from two fields and 4 reservoirs stood at 80.5mn standard cub feet per day.

Industrial production in Saudi Arabia fell by 0.2% YoY in February (January: 1.5%) following seven consecutive months of increases: oil activities stayed flat (January: 0.4%) while manufacturing gains eased (3.2% in February vs. 4.3% in January). Non-oil activities grew by 1.5% MoM and 3.2% YoY in February 2025. Within manufacturing, the manufacture of electrical devices and food products grew the fastest growing (7.7% and 6.3% respectively).

The Saudi Ministry of Industry & Mineral Resources disclosed that 103 new factories were opened in January (attracting an investment of SAR 900mn and creating 1,504 jobs) and 63 New Industrial Licenses were issued.

Saudi Arabia introduced a 5% real estate transaction tax from April 10th, on all transactions including residential, commercial, and industrial properties and regardless of development status or usage. Exemptions are related to transfers from inheritance, endowments or transfers between family members.

More than 154k commercial registrations were issued in Saudi Arabia during the first quarter, up 48% YoY, taking the total registrations to more than 1.68mn. Data showed an uptick in commercial registrations in e-commerce (+6% YoY to a total of 41,322) and cloud computing (+33% YoY to 3,728), while about 45% of the total commercial records were issued to institutions owned by women.

The tourism sector in Saudi Arabia recorded an 89% YoY surge in licensed tourism hospitality facilities to 4,225 in 2024. Makkah alone has 1,030 facilities (+80% YoY).

Global News:

A choppy trading week with President Trump announcing a 90-day pause on tariffs (the 10% minimum remained in place; China tariffs, however, were revealed to be 145%), leading to a short-term cheer in the markets before the fog of uncertainty descended again. US equities ended the week higher, as did the MSCI’s gauge of global stocks. Regionally, Saudi posted a weekly drop despite recording the biggest intra-day increase since March 2020 on Thursday, while Dubai eked a modest gain (0.3%). The week saw a weaker dollar (largest weekly drop since Nov 2022) while the euro stood at a 3-year high alongside the onshore Chinese renminbi hitting an 18-year low on Thursday as the PBoC allowed a weakening in the “fixing” rate (to support exporters amid the tariff hike). Safe-haven currency Swiss franc, touched a decade-high and gold price touched a new record high on Friday, also posting the largest weekly gain since March 2020. Oil prices, both Brent and WTI, slipped lower.

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SOURCE:
Nasser Saidi & Associates

Arabian Business