European Union (EU) countries acquired 33.5% of Egypt's total exports by the end of the third quarter (Q3) of fiscal year (FY) 2014/2015 ending in March, according to the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE). The CBE explained, in a recent report, that total Egyptian exports during this period amounted to $4.617bn, of which EU countries acquired a share valued at $1.498bn. The most important Egyptian exports to EU countries are crude oil, petroleum products, electrical machinery and equipment, and clothes, according to the CBE. The CBE added that Arab countries came in second place as recipients of Egyptian exports, acquiring 25.2% of total Egyptian exports. The value of Egyptian exports to Arab countries amounted to $1.293bn. According to the CBE, the most prominent Egyptian exports to Arab countries are petroleum products, electrical machinery and equipment, plastic and its products, and fluid pumps. Non-Arab Asian countries came in third place as recipients of Egyptian exports, as the value of their imports from Egypt amounted to approximately $573.1m, followed by the US at $449.9m. These are followed by other non-EU countries in Europe. Their imports from Egypt amounted to $281.4m. Non-Arab African countries imported $128.7m worth of Egyptian products, while the size of Egyptian exports to Australia amounted to only $4.2m. Meanwhile, according to the CBE, the EU is also the largest supplier of goods to Egypt, as its product amounted to 28.7% of Egypt's total imports during Q3 of FY 2014/2015. Egypt's imports of goods amounted to only $14.003bn, of which $3.975bn are imports from EU countries. The CBE noted that the most important goods imported by Egypt from EU countries are petroleum products, pharmaceutical products, wood and its products, and wheat. "Arab countries came in second as the largest exporter to Egypt, as they acquired about 22.6% of the total goods imported by Egypt during Q3 of FY 2014/2015. Arab exports to Egypt amounted to approximately $2.755bn. The most important goods imported from these countries are petroleum products, crude oil, plastic and its products, and electrical devices for telephones and telegraphs," the CBE reported. The CBE added that the size of imports from non-Arab Asian countries to Egypt amounted to approximately $3.092bn, against $1.216bn from the US, and $962.8m from non-EU European countries, while the size of Egyptian imports from Australia is about $64.5m.
