Egypt aims to generate $28bn in non-petroleum exports in 2015, the Ministry of Industry and Foreign Trade revealed in its Foreign Trade Digest report on Monday. Total exports for January was only $1.4bn, decreasing by 20.9% compared to the corresponding month in 2014, which gained $1.7bn in exports. The accomplished value represents 5.02% of the total annual plan. The largest non-petroleum export is expected to be from the building materials sector which aims to gain $6.3bn in 2015 and has achieved $223m in exports in January. The sector is followed by the chemical and fertiliser products sector, and targets $5.6bn in exports during the same period while achieving $220m in January. Egypt plans to gain the $28bn through 13 sectors, including medical industries, agriculture products, engineering and electronic products, food industry, ready-made clothes, chemical and fertiliser products, building materials, furniture, leather products, footwear and handicrafts, according to the report. The furniture sector gained $28.3m in January exports, and aims to register $500m in exports by the end of 2015, the report stated. It added that the medical products sector, which generated $33.9bn last month, targets $1.1bn during the same period. The leather and footwear products sector further registered $13.1m in exports in January and targets $260m in 2015. As for the agriculture products sector, the value of exports last month amounted to $190.6m. It eyes $2.4bn by the end of the year. Meanwhile, a total of $193.7m has been generated in January in the food products sector, which targets $4.2bn in 2015. The total value of exports for 2014 registered at $22.11bn, allowing the government to achieve 88.4% of its goal, which was $25bn. The government surpassed its set targets for in the medical industry sector, agriculture sector and readymade garments sector. In 2014, the trade sector signed cooperation agreements between Egypt, Russia and Belarus in trade, industry, investment, infrastructure, agriculture, petroleum, energy, environment, transport, exhibitions and customs. Among the ministerial decisions taken in 2014 was the imposing of protection duties on imports of rebar by 3.7% with a minimum of EGP 290 per tonne. The decision was valid for 200 days. As for the industrial sector, the ministry approved the draft law for giving priority for domestic products and requiring governmental entities to purchase them. Regarding the ministry's anticipations for the trade sector in 2015, they expect to start negotiations towards the signing of a free trade agreement between Egypt and the Eurasian Union.
