Chinese car companies eye investing in Egypt: Association

CAIRO – 27 August 2017: Several Chinese car companies negotiated with the Minister of Industry Tarek Kabil to enter the Egyptian market, Head of the Car Dealers Association Hussein Mostafa said.

These car companies are awaiting the issuance of the car manufacturing strategy to launch their activities by the House of Representatives, Mostafat told Egypt Today.

Latest data provided by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) in June showed that car imports slumped 64.6 percent year-on-year in May.

Recession in the car market sales and volatile custom dollar exchange rate have led to the continuing decline in car imports, Mostafa told Egypt Today in a previous statement, noting that sales of locally-assembled cars hiked 51 percent in the first half (H1) of 2017, compared to H1 2016.

Car importers and distributors were negatively affected by the floatation of the Egyptian pound in November and the interest rates hike that followed. GB Auto recorded LE 150.9 million ($8.5 million) in losses in the second quarter and LE 305.5 million for the six-month period of 2017, driven by higher sales, general and administrative (SG&A) expenses.