Egypt’s non-oil exports hit $10.7B in 5 months

CAIRO – 17 June 2018: Egypt’s non-petroleum exports recorded $10.7 billion during the first five months of 2018, according to Head of the General Organization for Export and Import Control Ismail Gaber.

Gaber added that exports in May reached $2.07 billion, in which $1.58 billion went for non-oil and non-manufacturing exports and $489 million for food exports.

He added that exports to Arab countries came at the top of the list with $834 million, followed by exports to the EU worth $621 million, Africa for $108 million and U.S. for $93 million.

Former Minister of Industry and Foreign Trade Tarek Kabil said that Egypt’s non-petroleum exports rose 16 percent during the first four months of 2018, recording $8.64 billion, compared to $7.43 billion during the same period of 2017.

Kabil stressed that the positive indicators of the Egyptian foreign trade reflect the success of the 2020 strategy.

The 2020 strategy was launched in November 2016 by Minister of Trade and Industry Kabil. It includes five main axes: industrial development, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) development and entrepreneurship, export development, training and technical education development, and corporate governance and development.

The strategy aims at increasing exports in the first place after strengthening the local industry.

The ministry seeks during the current period to enter new markets, expand in traditional markets and make full use of trade agreements signed with a large number of countries and economic blocs around the world to boost Egyptian exports to foreign markets.

Egypt benefits from the trade agreement that has lately come into action, reflecting the rising volume of its exports. The state is involved in international trade deals such as the Mercosur Agreement, which is a free-trade agreement signed by Egypt and Mercosur countries in 2010, including immediate customs clearance for 63 percent of exports from Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay going to Egypt.

The Mercosur trade deal covers food, cars, auto parts and industrial supplies, and the deal came into force in 2017.

Another trade agreement that Egypt is attached to is the deal with the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), which represents a free-trade area with 19 member states, stretching from Libya to Swaziland. COMESA was formed in December 1994 to replace the Preferential Trade Area, which had existed since 1981.

Gaber commented on the four-month exports saying that the most important markets for Egyptian exports include the Agadir Agreement’s countries, stating that exports to Agadir countries recorded $505 million, compared to $365 million during the same period in 2017, with an increase of 38.3 percent.

In 2004, Egypt signed the Agadir Agreement which is a free trade agreement between four Arab countries: Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia. The agreement, which came in force in 2007, helped to enhance the trade exchange between these four countries.
Egypt's non-oil exports rose 10 percent in 2017 to $22.42 billion, up from $20.41 billion in 2016.