Egypt’s imports reach $49B during 9 months of 2018

CAIRO – 29 October 2018: Egypt’s imports recorded $49 billion during the first nine months of 2018, with a 6.2 percent increase, compared to the same period of 2017, according to Advisor to the Minister of Trade and Industry for Small and Medium Enterprises Hossam Farid.

Farid added during his speech at the conference of “200 years of Egyptian Cotton” that exports reached $18 billion by the end of September, compared to $16 billion during the same period of 2017, with a 10 percent increase.

He clarified that the witnessed increase in the rate of exports is good; still it needs to be raised during the upcoming period.

“Engineering, chemical and building material sectors represented 46 percent of Egypt’s imports, while products of these sectors accounted for 54 percent of exports,” he explained.

He pointed out that although the textile industry represents 6 percent of Egypt's imports and 4 percent of the exports, it is one of the top five industries the Ministry of Industry is keen to develop.

Farid stated that the ministry’s attentiveness to the spinning and weaving industry is attributed to the reason that it is a labor-intensive industry which employs many young men and women, adding that in this regard, the World Bank report mentioned that 80 million young people entered Egypt's labor market over the past 10 years.

He pointed out that the ministry targets to turn the textile industry into an export industry to increase the Egyptian exports to African countries, which reach $3.5 billion, not exceeding 1 percent of the continent's imports.

Farid referred to the ministry's efforts to achieve this goal by exploiting Egypt's leadership of the next African session.

The General Organization for Import and Export Control (GOEIC) previously said that Egypt’s trade volume hiked 13 percent during the first nine months of the year, recording $67.63 billion, compared to $59.83 billion during the same period of 2017.