Trade exchange between Egypt and Italy amounted to €3.4bn in the first 10 months (10M) of 2020, according to a report by the Italian Embassy in Cairo.
This compares to the €4.3bn in trade exchange reported between the two countries during 2019, according to the Italian National Institute of Statistics (Istat).
The report added that the most important commodities that Italy exported to Egypt include: machinery; mechanical devices; electrical equipment; spare parts; mineral fuels; mineral oils; chemical products; metal products; iron and steel; mining; paper; optics; medical devices; rubber; textiles; cars; food industries; furniture; and other transport vehicles.
It stated that, in 2019, Italy ranked as Egypt’s foremost trade partner in Europe, according to Egypt’s Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS).
There are 1,424 Italian companies operating in the Egyptian market, ensuring that the European country ranked fourth in the list of countries that have had foreign direct investments (FDI) in Egypt until June 2020.
The report added that the total Italian capital that was pumped into the Egyptian market amounted to $28.2bn until June 2020, while the value of the accumulated Italian FDI in Egypt stood at $4.7bn.
It noted that the most important areas of Italian investment in Egypt are oil and gas exploration, as well as: industry; services; tourism; the financial sector; banking; construction; infrastructure; agriculture; information and communication technology (ICT); and real estate.