Egyptian exports amounted to $1.9bn in May this year, compared to $1.7bn at the same time last year. The 7% increase boosts the value of Egyptian exports from January to the end of May to $8.4bn—registering an increase of 3% versus the same period last year.


Minister of Trade and Industry Tarek Qabil said that Egyptian imports declined significantly to register $1.9bn in April, bringing the total imports from the beginning of the year until the end of April to $18bn, versus $22.5bn year-on-year (y-o-y)—with a decline of 19%. This contributed to bridging the gap in the Egyptian trade balance by 27.5% from January till April y-o-y.


According to Qabil, several export-oriented sectors saw an improvement during May 2016, including construction materials, which increased its exports from $302m in May 2015 to $489m this year, recording an increase of 62%. Exports of agricultural crops also achieved an increase of 16% from $235m to $273m. Medical and pharmaceutical exports rose by 7% from $38m in May 2015 to $41m in May of this year.


Furniture exports also registered a significant increase of 9%, after it successfully increased the value of its products shipped abroad from $33m to $36m y-o-y.


Egyptian exports to countries of the European Union amounted to $2.1bn in May, versus $2bn in the same month of 2015, with an increase of 7%. Egyptian exports to Arab countries also registered an increase of 6.6%, rising from $3.5bn achieved in May last year to $3.7bn in May this year.


On the other hand, Egyptian imports from EU countries fell during the first four months of 2016 to $6.2bn, compared to $7.392bn during the same period last year. Imports from the United States also dropped to $1.05bn from $1.6bn y-o-y.


Egyptian imports from Arab countries were lowered from $1.9bn by May 2015 to $1.06bn this year.