Turkey-Egypt trade rises 3% in first ten months of 2017

Trade volume between Egypt and Turkey has risen by three percent, reaching around $3.457 billion in the first 10 months of 2017, from $3.349 billion last year.

Egypt’s exports to Turkey increased by 44.2 percent to $1.657 billion in the January-October 2017 period, compared to$1.149 billion last year, Egyptian Industry and Trade Minister Tarek Qabil said Saturday.

Qabil made his remarks after receiving a report on the intra-trade activity indicators between the two countries from the Head of Commercial Representation Office in Istanbul.

“Egyptian imports from Turkey fell by 18.7 percent during the first ten months of the current year, registering $1.8 billion, compared to about $2.2 billion during the same period last year,” the Egyptian minister added.

The significant increase was due to a 299.5 percent surge in the Egyptian methanol exports to Turkey, reaching around $93.5 million at the end of October, compared with $23.4 million, said Ahmed Antar, head of Egypt’s Commercial Service Office (ECS).

“Egyptian exports of urea fertilizers reached about $282 million against $114 million, with a 145.6 percent rise,” Antar stated, referring that denim cloth exports also jumped 57.8 percent to $66.8 million from $42.3 million.