Egypt's January 2020 trade balance stands at $2.84bn in January 2020, the Central Agency for Public Mobilization (CAPMAS) reported in its monthly Foreign Trade Data bulletin on Thursday. The latest CAPMAS figures show a significant decrease from the $4.01bn reported in the same month of the previous year. The deficit value of trade balance reached $2.84bn in January 2020, versus $4.07bn for the same month of previous year, a decrease of 30.3%. Exports increased by 1.4 % to reach $2.48bn in January 2020, compared to $2.45bn for the same month of the previous year. This is due to the decreased value of some commodities such as crude oil by 102.6%, fertiliser by 7.3%, and various food preparations by 18.1%, among other items. While the export values of some commodities decreased in January 2020, compared to the same month of the previous year. These figures cover items such as ready-made clothes, by 6.9%, petroleum products by 9.2%, plastics in primary forms by 28.1%, and fresh fruits by 31.0%. The value of imports decreased by 18.4% to reach $5.32bn in January 2020, compared to $6.52bn for the same month of previous year. This is due to the decreased value of some commodities such as, petroleum products by 34.1% of that figure, raw iron or steel materials by 28.9%, plastics in their primary forms by 19.2%, and corn by 9.7%. Imports of some commodities increased in January 2020, compared to the same month of previous year such as passenger cars by 6.9%, wheat by 15.0%, engines, generators and electric motors by 55.1%.
