Egypt’s exports of gold, jewellery, and precious gemstones continued to rise during the first nine months (9M) of 2020, recording $2.4bn, up from $1.392bn during the same period of last year.
This year’s exports reflected a rise of about 76% on the previous year.
The monthly report issued by the Export Council for Building Materials, Refractories, and Metal Industries, stated that those exports were directed to 32 countries during 9M of 2020. This included five countries that Egypt did not export to during the same period last year, including Madagascar, Austria, South Korea, the Czech Republic, and Croatia.
The report added that seven countries accounted for 99.8% of the total exports for the sector in Egypt, led by the UAE, which ranked first in terms of importing countries of jewellery and gemstones. The UAE accounted for 69.7% of Egypt’s exports in the sector, with a value of $1.703bn, up from about $924m during the same period last year, reflecting an increase of 84%.
It was followed by Canada, which accounted for 21% of the sector’s total exports, with a value of $513m compared to $439m in the previous year, an increase of 17%. Australia came third with exports worth $159m compared to only $2,000 last year, while exports to Switzerland increased, recording a value of $39m compared to $8,000 during the same period last year.
Egyptian jewellery and precious stones exports to Turkey reached about $13m during 9M of 2020 against $96,000 in the previous year, while Bahrain ranked sixth in terms of importing countries with a value of $9m against $4,000. This was followed by Lebanon with $5m worth of Egyptian exports, against $1.03m in the same period of the previous year, with Saudi Arabia ranked eighth with a value of $3m compared to $27m, a decline of 88%.
