Egypt s Minister of Trade and Industry Nevine Gamea (Photo courtesy of Egyptian Cabinet)
These figures were part of the latest report received by the minister from the Egyptian commercial office in Sao Paulo, highlighting the leap in Egyptian exports to the Brazilian market during the past year, according to a ministry statement.
Gamea added that the trade exchange volume between the two countries also witnessed a remarkable surge, reaching $2.5 billion compared to $1.9 billion in 2020, an increase of 30 percent.
The commercial office in Sao Paulo provided $104 million worth of exports in four areas, namely: polyethylene, polypropylene, aluminum alloys and carbon black.
Phosphate fertilisers, superphosphates, urea and polyvinyl are the most prominent products exported to the Brazilian market.
The minister pointed out that the most prominent Egyptian exports that achieved growth to the Brazilian market during the past year included phosphate fertilisers with a 218.6 percent year-on-year (Y-O-Y) increase, superphosphate with a 1,350 percent Y-O-Y increase, and urea with a 65 percent Y-O-Y increase, in addition to polyvinyl with 140 percent Y-O-Y increase.
For his part, Minister of Trade Plenipotentiary and Head of Commercial Representation office Yehia El-Wathiq Billah explained that the ratio of Egyptian exports to imports reached 25 percent, which is double that of the previous year, which amounted to 12 percent, as the increase last year exceeded only the value of Egyptian exports to Brazil during 2019 and 2018.
The volume of Egyptian imports from Brazil amounted to about $2 billion last year, an increase of 14.5 percent compared to 2020, the head of commercial representation added.
Egyptian corn imports increased 20 percent from $55.2 million to $66 million, iron plate imports increased 118 percent from $168 million to $368 million, and sugar imports increased 25 percent from $253 million to $317 million, he said.
Gamea attributed the hike in Egyptian-Brazilian export rates to the European Union–MERCOSUR free trade agreement, which Egypt entered in 2017 and contributed to Egypt being ranked 32nd in the list of countries exporting to Brazil.
The Southern Common Market (known as MERCOSUR in its Spanish acronym and MERCOSUL in its Portuguese one) was established upon a treaty signed by presidents of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay signed in Asunción, Paraguay, paving the way for the most ambitious economic integration process in the region.
A pioneer free trade agreement (FTA) between MERCOSUR and Egypt has been in force since September 2017.
The minister said that the customs reductions for a large number of goods exchanged between the two parties also contributed to the start of a new phase of distinguished trade relations between Egypt and the MERCOSUR countries.
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