Egypt’s bill of imported non-durable consumer goods hit $6bn in 6 months

The total volume of Egyptian imports of non-durable consumer commodities decreased by 2.4 percent during the first six months of 2016.

Egypt’s bill of imported non-durable consumer commodities recorded 54.7 billion Egyptian pounds (US$6.1 billion) in January-June 2016 versus 56.1 billion pounds a year earlier.

The latest bulletin released by state’s main statistics body Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) on foreign trade clarified that the volume of imported non-durable consumer commodities recorded 9.81 billion pounds in June 2016 versus 9.82 billion pounds a year earlier.

The bulletin stated that Egypt’s imports of refined sugar dropped by 85.7 percent during the first six months of 2016 to 68.4 million pounds from 479.4 million at the same period of 2015.

Egyptian soap imports recorded 650.4 million pounds during the first half of 2016 opposed to one billion Egyptian pounds a year earlier, declining by 35.7 percent.

In January-June 2016, Egyptian imports of dairy products hit 3.2 billion pounds compared to 4 billion Egyptian pounds in January-June 2015, making a 19.3 percent drop.

On other side, Egyptian imports of refined oils rose 117.1 percent during the first six months of 2016 to 2.3 billion pounds from one billion pounds at the same period of 2015.

The bulletin showed that Egyptian imports of wheat flour increased during the first six months of 2016 to 13.8 million pounds from 9.4 million pounds at the same period of 2015, registering a 46.6 percent increase.

Moreover, Egyptian imports of medicaments and pharmaceutical goods jumped by 2.1 percent in January-June 2016 to 8.4 billion pounds from 8.2 billion pounds at the same period of 2015, the bulletin showed.