The volume of trade exchange between Egypt and the Nile Basin countries reached $1.872 bln in 2018, compared to $1.493 billion in 2017, with an increase of 25.4 percent, stated the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS) on Sunday. The annual bulletin for trade exchange presented an analyses the volume of trade (exports – imports) between Egypt and Nile Basin countries, including Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda, Congo, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, and Eritrea. CAPMAS noted that the total value of imports from Nile Basin countries reached $ 668 million in 2018, compared to $380 million in 2017, with an increase of 75.8%. Sudan ranked first in terms of exports, with a value of $ 399.3 million in 2018, representing 33.3 percent of the total trade volume with the Nile basin countries. Kenya ranked second, followed by Ethiopia, Eritrea and Uganda. Kenya ranked first in terms of imports with a value of $287.3 million in 2018, representing 43 percent of the total imports of the Nile basin countries. Sudan comes second, followed by Congo, Ethiopia and then Uganda. The most important items that were imported included coffee, tea, and spices as well as living animals, cotton, oil seeds, medical plants and fodder. Last week, the CAPMAS said that Egypt's exports to African Union (AU) countries recorded $4.736 billion in 2018, up from $3.716 billion in 2017, registering an increase of 27.4 percent.
