UAE’s ECI Insures Up to 100 Million Dollars of a Trafigura Line Led by FAB, Natixis and HSBC
Etihad Credit Insurance (ECI), the UAE’s federal export credit company, will insure up to 100 million dollars of a 150 million dollar revolving credit facility for commodities group Trafigura, WAM reported on 27 October. ECI signed the renewal with First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB), Natixis Corporate and Investment Banking (Natixis CIB) and HSBC Bank Middle East. The 2-year line finances Trafigura’s purchases of UAE-origin goods for export. The cover ceiling equals 66.7 percent of the facility, on our calculation. Eligible trade now includes exports from the UAE of any non-hydrocarbon related product of UAE origin.
The Same 150 Million Dollars Now Reaches Any Non-Oil Product
The renewal follows a policy that ran from 2024 to 2026. The first deal, signed in Abu Dhabi on 17 September 2024 with the Abu Dhabi Exports Office, FAB and Natixis CIB, gave Trafigura a 150 million dollar revolving credit facility for 2 years to buy non-hydrocarbon commodities originating in the UAE. The 2024 announcement named metals and minerals among them. ECI later received the TXF Commodity Trader Export Finance Deal of the Year 2024 award for its role in supporting Trafigura’s exports.
The size of the line is unchanged. The lender group and the scope are not. HSBC Bank Middle East joins FAB and Natixis CIB as a mandated lead arranger, and Natixis CIB acts as facility coordinator, bookrunner and export credit agency agent bank. The goods move from UAE-origin commodities to any non-hydrocarbon product of UAE origin.
Haitham Al Khazaleh, ECI’s director of underwriting, said ECI is helping lenders manage risks while facilitating access to financing for “a broader range of non-oil commodities”.
Trafigura Facility Widened to Any UAE Non-Oil Product
| Term | 2024 deal | 2026 renewal |
|---|---|---|
| Facility | $150m revolving | $150m revolving |
| Tenor | 2 years | A further 2 years |
| Partners named | ADEX, FAB, Natixis CIB | FAB, Natixis CIB, HSBC |
| Eligible goods | UAE-origin non-oil goods | Any UAE-origin non-oil product |
As printed in the announcements of 18 September 2024 and 27 October 2026, where non-oil reads non-hydrocarbon and the 2024 goods are commodities. ADEX is the Abu Dhabi Exports Office.
ECI Backs the Line From a Book That Grew in 2024
At the Central Bank of the UAE’s rate of 3.6725 dirhams per dollar on 26 October, the cover is worth 367.25 million dirhams, on our calculation. The full line comes to 550.9 million dirhams, on our calculation. The company’s 2024 annual report says it offers cover of up to 500 million dirhams per risk, with 60 percent of that amount ceded under a quota-share arrangement. The Trafigura cover equals 73.5 percent of that 2024 per-risk figure, on our calculation.
Gross exposure reached 11 billion dirhams in 2024, 14.58 percent more than in 2023. That puts the 2023 base at 9.6 billion dirhams, on our calculation. The new cover is equal to 3.3 percent of the 2024 exposure, on our calculation.
Insured turnover rose 15.7 percent to 16.2 billion dirhams in 2024. That was 2.85 percent of the UAE’s total non-oil exports, the report said. Each dirham of exposure carried 1.47 dirhams of insured turnover that year, on our calculation. On our reading, that fits a book weighted to short-term cover, which made up 70 percent of exposure. Medium and long-term commitments took 17 percent and political risk insurance 13 percent. Short-term cover came to 7.7 billion dirhams of the total, on our calculation.
The company collected 158 million dirhams of overdue payments in 2024, a 77 percent success rate. Collections since inception rose to 528 million dirhams, an 87 percent recovery rate. The year 2024 alone supplied 29.9 percent of that cumulative sum, on our calculation. In February the company said it supported local exporters across 33 sectors in 115 markets and kept its AA- rating from Fitch.
ECI Grew Insured Turnover 15.7 Percent in 2024
| Measure | Figure | Period |
|---|---|---|
| Insured turnover | AED 16.2bn, +15.7% | 2024 |
| Share of UAE non-oil exports | 2.85% | 2024 |
| Gross exposure | AED 11bn, +14.58% | 2024 |
| Short-term share of exposure | 70% | 2024 |
| Cover per risk, up to | AED 500m | 2024 report |
| Debt collected since inception | AED 528m | 2024 report |
| Reach | 33 sectors, 115 markets | February 2026 |
| Fitch rating | AA- | February 2026 |
From the company’s 2024 annual report, released on 27 May 2025, and its statement of 10 February 2026.
Non-Oil Exports Set the Pace in the First Half
The renewal lands as exports take a larger share of UAE trade. Non-oil foreign trade reached an estimated 1.937 trillion dirhams in the first half of 2026, up 13.1 percent on a year earlier, according to the Dubai Media Office. His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, reviewed the results on 19 July.
Non-oil exports rose 23.9 percent to a record 452.8 billion dirhams, the release said. They grew 1.82 times as fast as total non-oil trade, on our calculation. The 23.9 percent rise puts first-half 2025 exports at 365 billion dirhams, on our calculation. Exports therefore added 87 billion dirhams in a year and supplied 38.9 percent of the growth in total non-oil trade, on our calculation.
On our reading, the longer run is steeper. First-half exports were 77.3 percent above the same period of 2024, against 39.6 percent for total non-oil trade. Over those 2 years exports compounded at 33 percent a year and total non-oil trade at 18 percent, on our calculation. The export share of non-oil trade rose to 23.4 percent. A year earlier it was 21.3 percent, in 2024 it was 18.4 percent, and in 2023 it was 16.9 percent.
Exports also gained weight in trade with agreement partners. Trade with partners under a fully implemented comprehensive economic partnership agreement reached 304.3 billion dirhams. That is 15.7 percent of the total, on our calculation. Exports to those partners came to 66.1 billion dirhams, 14.6 percent of all non-oil exports on our calculation. They now account for 21.7 percent of trade with in-force partners, up from 19.1 percent in 2022. Gold remained the largest item at 706.2 billion dirhams, 36.5 percent of non-oil trade on our calculation.
UAE Non-Oil Exports Up 23.9 Percent in the First Half of 2026
| Measure | H1 2026 | Change or reference |
|---|---|---|
| Non-oil foreign trade | AED 1.937tn | +13.1% y/y |
| Non-oil exports | AED 452.8bn | +23.9% y/y |
| Export share of trade | 23.4% | 21.3% in H1 2025 |
| Trade with CEPA partners | AED 304.3bn | Exports AED 66.1bn |
| Gold | AED 706.2bn | +48.8% y/y |
Dirham figures and changes as published on 19 July 2026; total trade is the release’s estimate.
Why it matters: The renewal keeps a global commodities buyer financing purchases of UAE-origin goods for 2 more years, and it widens what that buyer can finance. For ECI, the 100 million dollar cover equals 3.3 percent of its 2024 exposure, on our calculation. For the UAE, it puts insurance and bank capacity from 3 lenders behind non-oil exports, the part of trade that grew 23.9 percent in the first half.
Outlook: The facility runs for a further 2 years. The UAE’s non-oil trade figures for the first 9 months of 2026 will show how far the export push has carried. The wider eligible list gives Trafigura room to draw the line on more UAE products than the commodities of the first deal.
Sources: WAM, Etihad Credit Insurance, Dubai Media Office, Central Bank of the UAE, The Edge.
