Egypt’s meat imports decrease 20.3% to reach $113M in May

CAIRO – 14 August 2017: Egypt’s imports of meat declined 20.3 percent to reach $113.2 million in May, compared t $142 million in the same period of the previous year, state official statistics authority (CAPMAS) said.

In its bulletin on Egypt’s imports and exports for May 2017, the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics revealed that medicaments and pharmaceutical imports also fell 15.2 percent to $159 million, compared to $187.6 million in the same month of 2016.

Imports of raw material of iron and steel leveled down 39.8 percent to stand at $198.9 million, after registering $330.2 million in May 2016, while organic and non-organic chemical imports decreased 19.8 percent year-on-year to $149.3 million in May this year from $186.2 million.

Ministry of Industry and Foreign Trade started working on eliminating low-quality imports, achieving the target of the exports’ development plan, saving hard currency and depending on the local product substitutes, in an attempt to decrease the deficit in the trade balance.

Higher exports recorded after the flotation allowed Egypt to decrease the trade deficit of 46 percent to record $11.13 billion in the first half of 2017, down from $24 billion in the year-ago period.

The ministry attributes the deficit drop to higher exports by eight percent year-on-year to reach $11.13 billion in the first six months of 2017 compared to $10.29 billion, while imports leveled down 30 percent to $24 billion in H1 of 2017, compared to $34 billion in H1 of 2016.