Egypt’s exports to Turkey increase 38.5% in 2017

CAIRO – 11 March 2018: Egypt’s exports to Turkey increased 38.5 percent in 2017, recording $1.998 billion, compared to $1.443 billion in 2016, Minister of Industry and Foreign Trade Tarek Kabil said on Sunday.

Kabil added that the imports decreased 13.7 percent, to $2.36 billion, compared to $2.733 billion in 2016.

This came with a recent report from the Egyptian Commercial Office in Istanbul on the movement of trade exchange between Egypt and Turkey during 2017.

The minister added that the trade deficit between the two countries fell to $360 million with a 72 percent decrease, compared to 2016.

He noted that the coverage rate of the Egyptian exports to imports rose from 53 percent in 2016 to 85 percent in 2017, referring that Turkey is the second largest importer from Egypt after the United Arab Emirates.

First Deputy Minister of Trade Ahmed Antar attributed the increase of Egyptian exports to the Turkish market to the rise of exports in three industrial sectors that represent 80 percent of Egypt’s total exports, which are chemicals at 89 percent, clothing and textiles at 23 percent and plastics at 31 percent.

Egyptian Activists called on February 24 via twitter for cutting the purchase of Turkish products in response to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s policy against Egypt and Arab countries in favor of Qatar after the boycott.

On June 5, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt severed diplomatic and economic ties with Qatar, accusing it of links to extremist groups.

Generally, the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) said Thursday that Egypt’s petroleum and non-petroleum imports declined by $2.1 billion in 2017, recording $66.02 billion, compared to $68.14 billion in 2016.

In the first 10 months of 2017, Egypt’s imports dropped $4.1 billion year-on-year to stand at $53.88 billion, compared to $58.04 billion in the same period of 2016.

While in December 2017, imports increased 17.6 percent to $5.77 billion, compared to $4.91 billion in December 2016.

Exports rose 23 percent, reaching $2.47 billion in December 2017, compared to $2.01 billion in the same month of the previous year.