Industry Min. seeks making Egypt regional hub of ceramics industry

CAIRO - 25 January 2018: Trade and Industry Minister Tareq Qabil said on Thursday that his ministry is keen on making Egypt a regional hub for manufacturing and exporting ceramics and construction materials.

Qabil made the remark during his meeting with Chairman of Ceramics Division in the Federation of Egyptian Industries (FEI) Sherif Afifi and a number of members of the ceramics division.

He stressed that his ministry seeks developing and upgrading ceramics industry in Egypt to meet the needs of the domestic market, achieve better contribution to under-implementation national projects and boost exports to foreign markets.

The competitiveness of the the Egyptian ceramic products has been improved in domestic and foreign markets, Qabil said, adding that the percent of the local component in ceramics industry hits 90.

The ceramics industry in Egypt can make use of the incentives offered by the government to the Egyptian exports to African and Iraqi markets, especially the fact that the government bears about 50 percent of shipping costs, the minister added.

There are around 33 ceramic factories operating in the Egyptian market with production of 240 million square meters, and investments of 15 billion pounds.