A permanent exhibition for Egyptian products in Saudi Arabia is needed to benefit from growing trade relations between the two countries, according to a report by the Furnishings Export Council that was presented to the Minister of Trade and Industry MounirFakhry Abdel Nour. Council head Saied Ahmed emphasised that establishing a permanent centre to market Egyptian industrial products, especially home furnishings,would promote exports to Saudi Arabia. This would be particularly effective, he said, since the Saudi market is not fully aware of Egyptian furnishing products, due to the Indian and Pakistani dominance of their market, and trade would benefit from the strong reputation of Egyptian cotton and other products. The situation is currently changing, Ahmed said, after 13 specialised companies – in industries such as linen, furnishings, handmade carpets, curtains and upholstery fabrics – participated in the recent Jeddah Index Exhibition, where Egyptian companies were successful in signing several export contracts to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries. The value of these contracts exceeded$100m within only four days despite fierce competition from Indian and Pakistani products. Ahmed added that the Saudi market is a distinctively attractive market for exports since it receives 15 million pilgrims annually in addition to the tens of millions of Saudis and migrating labour, including millions of Egyptians employed there, creating a sizeable market. In addition to establishing a permanent exhibition, Ahmed said the council would ask the Minister of Trade and Industry to organise a week-long exhibition for Egyptian cotton and furnishing companies to be held in several large Saudi cities simultaneously and annually where they would provide special prices for their products. On the other side, the delegated minister Abdel Sattar El-Sawy and the Head of Egyptian Trade office in Jeddah confirmed that the Saudi market is of the most important export markets for Egyptian products, since exports to Saudi Arabia during the first 10 months of 2013 totaled nearly EGP 11.8bn,up 19% year on year.He maintained that the furnishing sector has an opportunity to promote its presence in the Saudi market over the coming period since the exhibition showed the market's demand for Egyptian cotton products.
