The head of the Egyptian Exporters Association “Expolink”, Mohamed Kassem, said that Egypt is going through economic hardship, which was reflected in general economic performance, and export performance in particular.
Qassem added, in an interview with Al-Arabiya, that Egypt’s non-oil exports recorded a recovery last July by 8%, after recording a decline in the first half of the year.
Qassem pointed out that Egypt was not the only one affected in the first half, but there are many countries that suffered, such as China, which faced Big challenges this year.
He stated that the challenges facing Egyptian exports are related to local problems and the level of global demand, adding: “In the main consuming markets (the European Union, the United States), we are facing high inflationary effects, and therefore consumers’ ability to purchase has diminished to a large extent, which led to a decline in demand.”
Kassem said that the major trends in international trade are working in favor of countries such as Egypt, pointing out that the world is shifting to re-engineering global supply chains.
He pointed out that many European countries seek to transfer production from Asia to areas close to their markets, whether in North Africa or Latin America.
Qassem expected that Egyptian exports would witness an increasing demand in the coming period, which may reflect positively on export numbers in the remainder of this year and the coming years.
Egypt’s non-oil merchandise exports declined in the second quarter of this year, by about 37%, to record $7.2 billion, compared to the corresponding period of last year.
During the first quarter of this year, the value of Egyptian non-oil exports amounted to about $8.8 billion, down by 6.4% year on year.
The first half of this year recorded a decline of about 17% to about $16 billion.
Last year, Egypt’s merchandise exports recorded $35.6 billion, an increase of 12% compared to 2021.
Officials in the Federation of Egyptian Industries confirmed that the growth of non-oil commodity exports faces many challenges, most notably the shortage of raw materials and production requirements, due to the scarcity of the dollar.
