Egyptian exports during July 2014 totalled $1.4bn (EGP 10.06bn), an official report issued by the Ministry of Industry and Foreign Trade said Friday, adding that the total exports from the beginning of January until the end of July recorded $13.334bn, over EGP 93bn. The report stated that year-to-date exports represented an 0.60% increase compared to the same period last year. The report indicated that, until the end of July 2014, aside from the exports of furniture, medical industries, leather and agricultural products, all fields experienced a gap between the target level of exports and the achieved. As for the July target, all exportation fields and sectors witnessed the same gap except ready made goods and agricultural products. Imports until the end of May valued around $4.152. The top importing countries to Egypt were China, the United States, Germany and Italy. During the current fiscal year, the Ministry of Planning expects products and service imports to grow by 6.4% to reach EGP 387.3bn in real prices. Exports are also expected to rise by 3.8% to EGP 251.4bn during the same fiscal year. The gap between imports and exports is estimated at EGP 135.9bn, the planning ministry previously stated. The official report conflicted with those previous set targets, saying that the exportation target is around EGP 175bn, around $25bn. According to a previous report issued by the General Organisation for Export and Import, Saudi Arabia became the number one receiver of Egyptian exports during the first five months of 2014 with exports reaching EGP 6.384bn. Italy was the second top recipient of Egyptian exports, while Turkey and the US placed third and fourth, respectively.
