New car licences in Egypt decreased significantly by 43% to 11,513 cars in July 2022, compared to 20,830 cars in July 2021, according to Salah El-Kamony, a member of the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce (FEDCOC).
He said that the Resolution 9 has contributed to increasing the global crisis that erupted due to the Russian-Ukrainian war in February.
El-Kamony said: “The Resolution 9 has caused restrictions on import operations. Additionally, car prices have spiked by at least 25% since the beginning of 2022.”
He called on Minister of Trade and Industry Ahmed Samir to consider car import controls that were imposed under the Resolution 9/2022.
He further pointed out that the most important of these conditions is represented in the availability of service centres to provide repair and maintenance operations and the provision of spare parts sufficient for 15% of cars in the local market.
Global car companies are facing a real crisis since the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war, because of reducing their exports to all countries of the world, and Cairo was not alone in this decision, he disclosed, explained that this crisis is due to lack of electronic chips and production requirements, which stumbled with supply chains as a result of COVID-19 pandemic and the war.
He added: “The Resolution 9 obstructed import operations and the release of some shipments that arrived at Egyptian ports due to the failure of some importers to obtain prior approvals stating their commitment to import controls stipulated in the resolution. Hence, this stifled the local market with high volume of demand in light of lack of imported car supply, which pushed prices up by 15-20% at least.”
He pointed out that the purpose of these controls was to limit car imports, which has already been done as the government does not give approvals to import complete vehicles, especially with regard to documentary credits.
Furthermore, restrictions imposed on the import of cars led to the disappearance of many models from the market, and some of them were sold at over-price, which is a price range that manufacturers allow agents to sell within its limits. Additionally, the crisis is that there are some agents in Egypt using the over-price system wrongly, which pushed prices to hike insanely. Over and above, automotive exhibitions are also unable to meet the demands of customers, while continuing to bear burdens and operating costs of service fees, facilities, wages, insurance and others.
