The manufacturing index (without crude oil and petroleum products) increased to 140.46 during November 2016, compared to 124.99 in October, registering an increase of 12.4%. A recent report issued by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) on the metadata of the production index for manufacturing and extractive industries for November attributed the increase to the rise of the US dollar exchange rate against the Egyptian pound. The report showed that the total index for food products reached 157.08 during November, compared to 137.69 in the previous month—an increase of 14.1% due to the increase in the production of oil refining and demand of animal feed. Moreover, the total index for chemicals and chemical products reached 162.49 in November, compared to 134.75 during the previous month—an increase of 20.6% due to the seasonality of personal care products and absence of malfunction in chemical production lines. The total index for the manufacture of other transport equipments dropped to 950.57 in November 2016, compared to 1,686.94 in October—a decrease of 43.7% due to the decrease in imports and subway carriages production. In addition, the total index for other manufacturing industries (office tools) reached 51.72 during November2016, compared to 62.94 during October2016—a decrease of 17.8%, due to a decrease in export rates and the end of mid-year education season.
