Chinese fiberglass company Jushi aims to invest 2 billion pounds to implement the fourth phase of its production line of fiberglass in Egypt, Minister of Industry and Foreign Trade Tarek Qabil said Tuesday. "The fourth phase includes grinding raw material and locally manufacturing packaging materials," Qabil said, stating that the actual operations of Jushi's facility will start in the next few months. The minister has made these remarks during his meeting with the Chinese company CEO Zhang Yuqiang. Jushi's factory was built over 146,000 square meters with $520 million with total investment, producing 200,000 tons of glass per year and creating over 2,000 job opportunities. With the aim of expanding its factory in the Red Sea resort of Ain Sokhna, which was originally established in 2014, the General Authority of the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone) signed in September a $60 million contract with China Jushi. The factory allocates 99 percent of its products for export that contributed with Egypt ranking third among the biggest fiber glass manufacturer after the United States and China, Qabil added. Egypt ranked 52nd in the list of China's largest trading partners in 2016, according to the latest statistics released by the Chinese General Administration of Customs. Economic relations between Cairo and Beijing are deemed strong. The volume of trade exchange between Egypt and China recorded $5.178 billion from January to June 2017.
