The volume of Egypt’s imports of food commodities reached EGP 227.714bn in 2018, according to the latest report received by the Minister of Finance, Mohamed Moeit, on the movement of basic commodities received by Egypt.
The Ministry of Finance stated in a press statement on Monday that most of these commodities benefited from low custom duties of the current customs tariff, and some also benefited from the government’s exemption on basic food commodities.
“Fresh, chilled, and preserved vegetables topped the list of the imported foods in 2018, at a cost of EGP 60.293bn, while oats, corn, flour, and soybeans came in second place with EGP 53bn, followed by containers of wheat worth EGP 42.350bn,” according to the ministry.
“Furthermore, the containers of meat, fresh and frozen fish, crustaceans, and molluscs came in the fourth place on the list of imported food commodities in 2018, at a cost of EGP 27.766bn,” the ministry added.
Meanwhile, the ministry stated that oil containers ranked the fifth in terms of the imported commodities’ list in 2018 with a cost of EGP 22bn, followed by coffee and tea at a cost of EGP 7.71bn.
“Sugar and black honey came in sixth palace at a cost of EGP 6.384bn, followed by containers of legumes, rice, dairy products, at a cost of EGP 6bn, EGP 100m, and EGP 11.623m respectively,” according to the ministry.
Finally, the report noted that Egypt imported basic food commodities at a cost of EGP 15.793bn in January 2019, in which the containers of corn, oats, flour, and soybeans topped the list of the imports with a cost of EGP 6.755bn.
