Jafza – Dubai’s Jebel Ali Free Zone experienced a significant surge in business registrations in 2022, particularly from major markets like China and India, despite global challenges. The free zone reported a 30% YoY increase in customer registrations, surpassing 9,500 companies – the highest in the past ten years.
Moreover, despite the global pandemic, the UAE’s non-oil foreign trade hit a record high of AED 2.23T ($607.2B) in 2022, indicating a 17% increase from the previous year.
Jafza has been attracting a considerable amount of interest from overseas markets, particularly Chinese and Indian businesses in the Asian region. Last year, Chinese and Indian companies showed a significant increase in registration at the DP World-owned free zone, with the former registering a four-fold increase, indicating a healthy post-COVID demand from the Far East. Meanwhile, the total number of newly registered Indian companies also grew by 30%.
Abdulla Bin Damithan, the CEO and Managing Director of DP World UAE and Jafza, noted that the notable increase in newly registered Chinese and Indian companies played a vital role in UAE-China trade, valued at AED 264.5B and UAE-India trade at AED 180.9B in 2022. Over the past decade, the number of logistics companies in Jafza has quadrupled, while the vehicle and transport segment experienced a compound annual growth rate of 26%.
