CAIRO: Turkiye and Saudi Arabia were recorded as Egypt’s two largest export markets in the first two months of 2024, with Turkiye receiving exports worth $551 million and Saudi Arabia goods valued at $511 million, according to recent data.
A report from the General Authority for Export and Import Control said that the Italian market received Egyptian exports valued at $395 million, ranking it third overall, followed by the Libyan market, with $337 million, and the US with goods worth $315 million.
Egypt’s leading export sectors for the first two months of the year were construction materials ($1.177 billion), agricultural products ($939 million), food industries ($873 million), chemical products and fertilizers ($871 million), engineering and electronic goods ($809 million), ready-made garments ($465 million), yarn and textiles ($179 million), printing, packaging, paper, books and art products ($153 million), furnishings ($94 million), medical industries ($92 million), furniture ($43 million), handicrafts ($36 million), and leather/footwear/leather products ($27 million).
The most significant items that saw an increase in exports in the first two months of the year were fresh and dried oranges at $296 million, followed by nitrogenous fertilizers at $268 million, gold at $211 million, insulated wires and cables at $229 million, and petroleum oils at $215 million.
Emad Qanawi, a member of the board of directors of the General Union of Chambers of Commerce, commented on Egyptian-Saudi export cooperation.
Qanawi told Arab News that there was a keen interest in Egypt pursuing plans with Saudi Arabia to meet the needs of both country’s markets, and said efforts must be enhanced to facilitate the movement of goods between them.
He said the trade between Egypt and Saudi Arabia had seen “significant growth in recent years due to the shared vision of the leaderships of both countries.”
Another member of the board said: “The change in the global economic map and the emergence of new markets have opened up prospects for more trade and industrial opportunities, making Egyptian-Saudi commercial and industrial integration a necessity to face any regional and global challenges.”
Sherif El-Sayad, president of the Export Council for Engineering Industries, said: “Despite all these challenges occurring together for the first time, the council is strongly determined to deal with all challenges, open new markets, and introduce new ideas to increase exports, especially as many companies produce high-quality products that carry the ‘Made in Egypt’ label globally.”
He added: “There is a great opportunity this year to increase exports, especially as many new foreign investments will start operating in Egypt after the unification of the currency rate.”
Ahmed Samir, minister of trade and industry, said Egyptian commodity exports succeeded in achieving a 6 percent increase during the first two months of 2024, surpassing the same period last year.
The figures indicate the possibility of exports making a significant leap by the end of the current year as per the Egyptian government’s targets.
In a statement, he added: “Egyptian commodity exports achieved a tangible growth rate during this period, amounting to $6.121 billion, compared to $5.794 billion during the same period of 2023, as the volume of exports during these two months exceeded exports of the same period in 2022 and 2021.”
Turkiye, Saudi Arabia largest markets importing from Egypt
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Turkiye, Saudi Arabia largest markets importing from Egypt
- Chamber official emphasizes significance of integrating Egyptian-Saudi commerce and industry to expand markets
- Trade minister says total Egyptian commodity exports increased 6 percent in first two months of the year
Gaza’s living conditions worsen as strong winds and hypothermia kill 5
- Hundreds of tents and makeshift shelters were blown away or heavily damaged, the UN humanitarian office reported
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip: Strong winter winds collapsed walls onto flimsy tents for Palestinians displaced by war in Gaza, killing at least four people, hospital authorities said Tuesday.
Dangerous living conditions persist in Gaza after more than two years of devastating Israeli bombardment and aid shortfalls. A ceasefire has been in effect since Oct. 10. But aid groups say that Palestinians broadly lack the shelter necessary to withstand frequent winter storms.
The dead include two women, a girl and a man, according to Shifa Hospital, Gaza City’s largest, which received the bodies.
The Gaza Health Ministry said Tuesday a 1-year-old boy died of hypothermia overnight, while the spokesman for the UN’s children agency said over 100 children and teenagers have been killed by “military means” since the ceasefire began.
Meanwhile, Israel’s military said it exchanged fire Tuesday with six people spotted near its troops deployed in southern Gaza, killing at least two of them in western Rafah.
Family mourns relatives killed by wall collapse
Three members of the same family — 72-year-old Mohamed Hamouda, his 15-year-old granddaughter and his daughter-in-law — were killed when an 8-meter (26-foot) high wall collapsed onto their tent in a coastal area along the Mediterranean shore of Gaza City, Shifa Hospital said. At least five others were injured.
Their relatives on Tuesday began removing the rubble that had buried their loved ones and rebuilding the tent shelters for survivors.
“The world has allowed us to witness death in all its forms,” Bassel Hamouda said after the funeral. “It’s true the bombing may have temporarily stopped, but we have witnessed every conceivable cause of death in the world in the Gaza Strip.”
A second woman was killed when a wall fell on her tent in the western part of the city, Shifa Hospital said.
Hundreds of tents and makeshift shelters were blown away or heavily damaged, the UN humanitarian office reported.
The UN and its humanitarian partners were distributing tents, tarps, blankets and clothes as well as nutrition and hygiene items across Gaza, said the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
The majority of Palestinians live in makeshift tents since their homes were reduced to rubble during the war. When storms strike the territory, Palestinian rescue workers warn people against seeking shelter inside damaged buildings for fears of collapse. Aid groups say not enough shelter materials are entering Gaza during the truce.
In the central town of Zawaida, Associated Press footage showed inundated tents Tuesday morning, with people trying to rebuild their shelters.
Yasmin Shalha, a displaced woman from the northern town of Beit Lahiya, stood against winds that lifted the tarps of tents around her as she stitched hers back together with needle and thread. She said it had fallen on top of her family the night before, as they slept.
“The winds were very, very strong. The tent collapsed over us,” the mother of five told AP. “As you can see, our situation is dire.”
On the shore in southern Gaza, tents were swept into the Mediterranean. Families pulled what was left from the sea, while some built sand barriers to hold back rising water.
“The sea took our mattresses, our tents, our food and everything we owned,” Shaban Abu Ishaq said, as he dragged part of his tent out of the sea in the Muwasi area of Khan Younis.
Mohamed Al-Sawalha, a 72-year-old man from the northern refugee camp of Jabaliya, said the conditions most Palestinians in Gaza endure are barely livable.
“It doesn’t work neither in summer nor in winter,” he said of the tent. “We left behind houses and buildings (with) doors that could be opened and closed. Now we live in a tent. Even sheep don’t live like we do.”
Residents aren’t able to return to their homes in Israeli-controlled areas of the Gaza Strip.
Child death toll in Gaza rises
Gaza’s Health Ministry said the 1-year-old in the central town of Deir Al-Balah was the seventh fatality due to the cold conditions since winter started. Others included a baby just seven days old and a 4-year-old girl, whose deaths were announced Monday.
The ministry, part of the Hamas-run government, says more than 440 people were killed by Israeli fire and their bodies brought to hospitals since the ceasefire went into effect. The ministry maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by UN agencies and independent experts.
UNICEF spokesman James Elder said Tuesday at least 100 children under the age of 18 — 60 boys and 40 girls — have been killed since the truce began due to military operations, including drone strikes, airstrikes, tank shelling and use of live ammunition. Those figures, he said, reflect incidents where enough details have been compiled to warrant recording, but the total toll is expected to be higher. He said hundreds of children have been wounded.
While “bombings and shootings have slowed” during the ceasefire, they have not stopped, Elder told reporters at a UN briefing in Geneva by video from Gaza City. “So what the world now calls calm would be considered a crisis anywhere else,” he said.
Gaza’s population of more than 2 million people has been struggling to keep the cold weather and storms at bay while facing shortages of humanitarian aid and a lack of more substantial temporary housing, which is badly needed during the winter months. It’s the third winter since the war between Israel and Hamas started on Oct. 7, 2023, when militants stormed into southern Israel and killed around 1,200 people and abducted 251 others into Gaza.
Gaza’s Health Ministry says more than 71,400 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory offensive.
