Egypt-Nile Basin trade exchange falls 10% in July

Trade exchange between Egypt and the Nile Basin countries dropped 10 percent to record US$96 million in July this year, from US$107 million in the same month last year, the Egyptian state statistics agency reported Wednesday.

In its monthly bulletin, CAPMAS showed that Egypt’s total exports to the Nile basin countries fell to US$70 million versus US$72 million in the same period a year earlier. The fall was attributed to the decline in the volume of exports to Kenya which recorded US$17.2 million in July, compared to US$18.4 million last year.

On the contrary, the country’s July exports to Ethiopia surged to US$9 million from US$4.3 million in July 2014.

Meanwhile, the total value of imports from Nile Basin countries edged down to US$26 million in July 2015, compared to US$35 million in July 2014.

Egypt’s July imports from Kenya decreased to US$16.7 million, opposed to US$19.8 million in the same period of last year. Additionally, imports from the Sudan also dived to US$584,000, compared to 8.2 million.

Moreover, Egypt’s imports from Ethiopia hiked to US$8.4 million, compared to US$6.5 million, the bulletin found.