UK-Egypt trade exchange hits £572mn in 4 months

The volume of trade exchange between Egypt and UK dropped by 1 percent in January-April 2016, Egyptian Commercial Service Office (ECS) stated Wednesday.

Egypt-Britain trade exchange recorded around £572 million during the first four months of 2016 opposed to £579 million a year earlier.

The ECS clarified that Egyptian exports to UK declined in January-April 2016 to £229 million from £290 million at the same period of 2015, registering 21 percent drop.

Egypt’s petroleum exports to UK sagged by 76 percent in January-April 2016 to around £14 million versus £58 million at the same period of 2015.

At the end of April 2016, Egyptian non-petroleum exports to the British market also decreased by 7 percent since they recorded £215 million compared to £232 million by the end of April 2015.

Egypt’s exports to the UK mainly included ready-made clothes, vegetables, oil products, inorganic chemicals, plastic, textiles, in addition to iron and steel.

Meanwhile, British imports to the Egyptian market hit £343 million during January-April 2016 opposed to £289 million at the same period of 2015.

The ECS announced that the deficit in Egyptian-British trade balance reached around £114 million during the first four months of 2016.

Moreover, the intra-trade volume between Egypt and UK reached around £1.7 billion in 2015 compared to £1.9 billion in 2014, marking 12.4 percent decline.