Undoubtedly, the floatation of the Egyptian pound severely impacted the publishing industry in Egypt. However, the more stable economic conditions became, the further hopes increased for an improved situation for such an important industry.
The General Manager of the Printing, Packaging, and Paper Division in the Federation of Egyptian Industries, Mahmoud Hasanain, supplied Daily News Egypt with some figures which provide a vista of the publishing industry throughout 2016 and 2017.
He unveiled that the volume of investments in the paper industry sector regarding printing reached EGP 1.7bn in 2018 with 12,188 employees in the sector, while the volume of the ink business hit EGP 490m with a labour volume of 2,663 in 84 ink companies.
“2017 and 2018 were hard for the paper sector which is the main input for the publishing industry. Prices of paper tonnes tripled, and the amount of sold paper decreased by about 20% to 30%, as publishers resorted to decreasing their productions costs, since they were dealing with the consequences of the floatation of the Egyptian pound,” Hasanain revealed.
Yet, he added, the stable economic situation which Egypt experienced in late 2018 and the beginning of 2019 made a difference, as the price of dollar was unstable which restricted their ability to set paper prices for publishers. In 2018, the amount of sold paper increased by 30%, and the situation improved.
