CAIRO: The Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) announced August 14 the monthly data on foreign trade for the month of May 2010, revealing the high value of total exports increased from 10.1 billion Egyptian pounds to 13.1 billion pounds, an increase of 29.7 percent. The agency also announced a rise in the total value of imports. The statement published by CAPMAS said that the most important goods, “which witnessed an increase in the value of its exports, were in terms of high value exports of fertilizers from 257.8 million pounds to 733.7 million pounds, an increase of 184.6 percent and export value of crude oil rose from 525 million pounds to 939 million pounds, an increase of 78.9 percent.” The statement emphasized that the most important goods, which increased the value of imports is the high value of imports of petroleum products from 959.7 million pounds to 2.58 billion pounds, an increase of 169.2 percent and the high value of imports of fats and oils, animal and plant from 62.5 million pounds to 437.5 million pounds, an increase of 600 percent. In terms of imports, the raw material of iron or steel were the most important goods, in which the value of its imports decreased from 1.99 billion pounds to 1.7353 billion pounds, a decrease of 13.2 percent, as well as the decreased value of imports of dairy products from 185.9 million pounds to 180.8 million pounds, a decrease of 2.7 percent, and the value of imports of wheat decreased from 870.4 million pounds to 804.4 million pounds, a decrease of 7.5 percent. Despite the decreases in imports, CAPMAS said that Egypt is currently “producing much more local products and raw materials that are positioning the country to become more self-sufficient in the coming years.” BM
