Egypt Imposes Fees on Stone Exports, Banning Raw Minerals

The Egyptian Customs Authority announced on Sunday that it would impose export fees on the raw materials of marble, granite and sands as ordered by the state’s trade ministry in an attempt to optimize the added value of their finished products.

The decision also includes placing a ban on exporting mineral raw materials Quartz, Talc, Manganese and Feldspar.

According to the ministry’s decision that was issued last week, each tonne of raw marble and granite will be levied by EGP 200 in exporting fees, however a tonne of any kind of exported sands will face a fee of EGP 50.

“The imposed fees aim at reducing the exports of these products but we have yet to calculate the expected revenues as we will wait for the exporters reactions,” Magdy Abdel Aziz, the head of the central department at the cargo customs section of Cairo airport, told Ahram Online.

“I don’t think fees will spook exporters from their business, they aren’t too high,” he said.

Egypt’s exports of raw marble and granite have risen from 2.1 million tonnes in 2007 to 2.9 million tonne last year, recording EGP 2.4 billion ($348 million) in revenues.

Source: Ahram Online