Egypt’s Trade Ministry has asked the country’s competition and anti-monopoly authority to investigate shipping agencies to see if they have been improperly raising prices, it said on Tuesday.
The ministry said it had received complaints from the Federation of Egyptian Industries and export and import firms, who said shipping prices had risen above price averages in many Mediterranean ports.
Rachid, who wants to double Egypt’s exports to LE 200 billion ($36 billion) by 2014, said in a statement the shipping industry’s development was crucial to reaching that target.
"Higher shipping costs lead to increases in the price of Egyptian exports in outside markets, which lessen their competitiveness and also lead to price hikes in imported goods, and the Egyptian consumer bears the costs," Trade Minister Rachid Mohamed Rachid said in the statement.
