Egypt's Chemical and Fertilizers Export Council's report revealed that the sector's exports have witnessed a clear increase during the first five months o this year, amounting to $3.5bn compared to $2.6bn during the same period last year, an increase of 33%. According to the data of General Organization for Export and Import Control, chemical and fertilizer industries sector ranked first in terms of volume of its exports from total Egyptian exports. It accounted for approximately 22% of total Egyptian exports, followed by building materials in the second place, which accounted for about 20% of total exports with a value of $3.2bn. The report highlighted that most of the sector's exports have seen increases in varying rates. Fertilizers came in the first place, with an estimated export volume of $1.16bn, compared to $768m in the same period last year, with a growth rate of 51%. Exports of plastics came in second place, with value of $1.09bn, an increase of 12% over the same period last year, whose exports amounted to about $970m. In the third place came inorganic chemicals, which witnessed a noticeable increase in the volume of its exports by 144%, rising from $225.3m to $550.2m. Detergents came in fourth place, achieving an increase of 16%, recording$122.6m in the first five months of the current year compared to $105.67m during the first five months of 2021, an increase of 16%. Meanwhile, organic chemicals came in fifth place despite a 14% drop in volume of their exports, from $130m to $112m, followed by diversified chemicals, which saw an increase in their exports by 29%, rising from $80m to $103.45m. Inks and paints came in seventh place, achieving a growth rate of 4%, as it rose from $99.3m to $103m. Paper products ranked eighth, with a slight decrease from $97m to $95.44m. Glass products ranked ninth, with a growth rate of 13%, from $81.34m to $91.5m, and in the tenth place came exports of dry cells and batteries, achieving a growth rate of 13%, rising from $15.5m to $17.55m.
