LONDON: Minister of Industry and Foreign Trade Tarek Qabil announced Egypt’s non-oil exports rose to US$1.891bn in March, up from $1.818bn in a year over year comparison to register a 4% increase. During the same time period, Egyptian imports decline by 27%, as the country imported US$7.568bn in January and February 2016 compared to US$10.397bn in a year over year comparison.
Qabil stated the economic metrics align with the ministry’s efforts to meet its target external trade ratios, rationalize imports and reduce the demand on hard currency. The Ministry of Industry and Foreign Trade restructure its previous plan to attempt to repay a large portion of the debt it owes to the Export Development Fund. Egyptian agriculture exports garnered US $280m in March compared to US $256m in a year over year comparison, an increase of 9%.
Chemical and fertiliser exports garnered US$289m in March compared to US$259m in March 2015, an increase of 12%. Print media exports increased from US$2m to US$3m while construction material exports increased by nearly US$100m to US$406m in March 2016.
“Agriculture imports fell to $324m compared to US$529m during the same two months of 2015, a decline of 9%. Textile imports declined from US$94m to US$64m, a decrease rate of 32%, and pharmaceutical and medical imports fell to US$159m compared to US$222m during the same period of 2015, a decline of 28%,” the minister noted. “Chemical and fertilisers imports dropped to US$489m compared to US$653m during the same period last year 2015, a decrease rate of 25%.
Industry and textile imports each fell by 24%, while upholstery and textile imports each fell by 32%. Construction material imports fell by 27% while the value of print material imports decreased by 18%. Engineering industry imports increased by 8%, while the furniture sector settled at the same value as the past year. Egyptian exports to European Union amounted US$1.3bn compared to US$1.2bn during March 2015. Exports to Arab countries amounted to US$2.108bn compared to US$2.76bn during March 2015. Egyptian exports to the United States decreased to US$272m compared to US$316m during March 2015. As for African countries-non Arab-countries, Egyptian exports witnessed a slight decrease to US$274m compared to US$276m during March 2015.
Meanwhile, imports decreased from Arab countries to US$446m in January and February 2016 compared to US$1bn in January and February of last year, a decline rate of 55%. Imports from the US fell to US$462m compared to US$932m during the same period in 2015, a decline of 50.4%. Imports from African countries decreased from US$98m to US$86m, a decrease rate of 12% over the same period last year. Imports from the European Union slightly increased to $3.564bn compared to US$3.426bn, an increase of 4%.
