Egypt’s exports to Russia jump 41% in 4 months

CAIRO – 28 June 2018: Egypt’s exports to Russia increased 41 percent in the first four months of 2018, recording $284 million, compared to $201 million during the same months of 2017, according to Minister of Industry and Foreign Trade Amr Nassar.

This came in the latest report received by the minister from the Egyptian Commercial Office in the Russian capital, Moscow, on the indicators of the performance of Egyptian commodity exports to the Russian market during the period from January to April 2018.

The minister noted that the rise contributed to reducing the trade deficit between the two countries, taking into account that Cairo imports a number of strategic goods from Moscow, notably wheat.

The next period will see intensive efforts to push the volume of Egyptian exports to the Russian market to unprecedented levels, given the ongoing coordination between the Egyptian government and the Eurasian Economic Union to start negotiations on a free trade agreement, the minister noted.

For his part, head of the Egyptian Commercial Service, Ahmed Antar, attributed the increase in Egyptian exports to the Russian market to the increase of exports of vegetables and fruits by 42.5 percent to record $233.7 million.

He clarified that the exports of vegetables and fruit represent more than 82 percent of the total Egyptian commodity exports to the Russian markets, noting that the most important agricultural products, which witnessed a significant increase during that period, are potatoes, oranges, tomatoes and strawberries.

Antar added that exports of household appliances increased 366 percent, reaching $10 million, exports of food products jumped 108 percent to $13.7 million.

“The exports of detergents and soap climbed 153 percent, and home furniture rose 81.5 percent to about $1 million, in addition to carpets exports which recorded $1.7 million, with an increase of 46 percent, and the exports of medical industries that increased 34.6 percent to reach $3.5 million,” Antar added.

He also referred that the increase in the exports of engineering goods, food industries, medical industries and furnishings represents a positive indicator of the diversity of the structure of Egyptian exports to the Russian market and the entry of new items to exports to this large market beside the traditional exports which include a number of agricultural commodities.

Generally, Egypt's non-oil exports rose 10 percent in 2017 to $22.42 billion, up from $20.41 billion in 2016.

Egyptian goods became attractive to foreign markets after the flotation of the state’s currency in November 2016, losing 50 percent of its value, which is reflected on the increased exports.