The Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) has released its monthly Foreign Trade Data for October 2024, revealing a 16% decrease in the trade deficit compared to the same month last year.
In October 2024, Egypt’s trade deficit stood at $3.66bn, down from $4.36bn in October 2023. This reduction is attributed to significant increases in exports and modest changes in imports.
Exports saw a notable increase of 21.3%, reaching $4.07bn in October 2024, up from $3.35bn in the same month of the previous year. This growth was driven by sharp increases in several key commodities, including petroleum products (up 121.5%), crude oil (up 31.7%), ready-made clothing (up 15.6%), and pastries and food preparations (up 24%).
However, some export categories experienced declines, such as fertilizers (down 14.2%), medicines and pharmaceutical products (down 36.6%), flat-rolled iron or steel products (down 56.0%), and tiles and sanitary ceramic products (down 1%).
Imports edged up by just 0.2%, totaling $7.73bn in October 2024, compared to $7.71bn in October 2023. This minor increase was primarily driven by higher imports of petroleum products (up 1.6%), natural gas (up 382.7%), plastics in primary forms (up 12.5%), and chemicals (up 21.4%).
Meanwhile, imports of certain goods saw declines, such as raw materials of iron or steel (down 8.8%), medicines and pharmaceutical preparations (down 5.2%), copper and its products (down 0.5%), and soybeans (down 3.6%).
