Egypt’s exports rise 12.4% in August 2026 as trade deficit widens – CAPMAS

Egypt’s exports rose by 12.4 per cent year on year to $4.7 billion in August 2026, compared with $4.2 billion in the same month of 2025. The trade deficit widened by 29 per cent to $6.4 billion in August, up from $4.9 billion in the corresponding month of the previous year, according to the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS).

The increase in exports was driven by higher shipments of petroleum products, which rose by 75.6 per cent, followed by ready-made garments at 21.2 per cent, food pastes and various food preparations at 5 per cent, and fertilisers at 5.2 per cent.

Meanwhile, exports of fresh fruits declined by 7.9 per cent, medicines and pharmaceutical preparations by 8 per cent, dried legumes by 21.9 per cent, and furniture by 16.1 per cent.

On the import side, Egypt’s imports increased by 21.4 per cent year on year to $11.1 billion in August 2026, up from $9.1 billion in August 2025.

The increase was driven by higher imports of natural gas, which rose by 59.1 per cent; petroleum products, by 20.3 per cent; plastics in their primary forms, by 15.4 per cent; and copper and its products, by 96 per cent.

In contrast, imports of passenger cars fell by 3.8 per cent, raw materials of iron or steel by 36.4per cent, wheat by 44.9 per cent, and soybeans by 28 per cent.