Egyptian exports of food industries rose by 18% YoY during the first 11 months of 2021

Newsletter

02 Jan 2022

For our top talks today, Egyptian exports of food industries rose by 18% year-on-year (YoY) during the first 11 months of 2021. The exports recorded 3.8 billion USD in the January-November period of 2021, compared to 3.2 billion USD in the same period of 2020. Saudi Arabia was the top importer of Egyptian food industries during the period starting January until November 2021, with exports worth 282 million USD. Meanwhile, the US came in the second place with exports worth 205 million USD, followed by Sudan and Libya with exports valued at 185 million USD and 181 million USD, respectively. (Economy Plus)

The price of “subsidized” sugar at a rate of 23.5% to 10.5 EGP per kilo starting from January 2022, from 8.5 EGP per kilo currently, according to the Egyptian Minister of Supply Ali Al-Moselhi. The subsidy for food commodities in Egypt amounts to about 89.5 billion EGP for the current fiscal year 2021-2022, of which 36.5 billion EGP are subsidies for bread and 53 billion EGP are subsidies for food commodities.
72 million people benefit from bread subsidies and 64 million from subsidies for food commodities. Egypt's average production of sugar over recent years is estimated at 2.5 million tons annually, while domestic consumption is 3.3 million tons. Egypt will stop issuing ration cards to new couples, and will not issue new cards to more than two people who are actually married. (Bloomberg Asharq)
Moreover, Egypt has exported electricity to Jordan, Libya, and Palestine at a total value of EGP 90 million in November 2021, sources familiar with the matter at the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Co (EETC). This marks a 5.5% month-on-month (MoM) decline, representing around 5 million EGP.
Egyptian exports of electricity to Jordan recorded 70 million EGP, while exports to Libya and Palestine were valued at 20 million EGP. The sources attributed the drop in exports to lower demand from both Jordan and Libya. Egypt seeks to boost its exports of electricity to Libya over the coming period. (Al-Mal)
In a similar context, Egypt has received 347,460 doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine at the Cairo Airport on Thursday, Egyptian Minister of Higher Education and acting Minister of Health and Population Khaled Abdel Ghaffar announced in a statement.
The vaccines were provided to Egypt as per the COVAX initiative in collaboration with the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), the minister added. On December 27th, Abdel Ghaffar announced that Egypt received a total of more than 2.3 million doses of the Pfizer, Moderna, and AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccines. It is worth noting that the Ministry of Health reported 854 new cases of COVID-19 and 28 deaths on December 29th. (Arab Finance)
In addition, the telecommunication and information technology sector in Egypt has achieved a growth rate of 16% in fiscal year (FY) 2020/2021, compared to 15.2% in FY 2019/2020. The sector’s contribution to Egypt’s gross domestic product (GDP) increased to 5% in FY 2020/2021 from 4.4% in FY 2019/2020.
The value of the Egyptian digital exports grew to 4.5 billion USD in FY 2020/2021 from 4.1 billion USD in the previous FY. According to a report released by the global consultancy Roland Berger, Egypt is one of the top 10 fastest countries towards digital inclusion. Moreover, the National Telecom Regulatory Authority (NTRA) was ranked the 41st among 193 countries in 2020, acquiring the 2nd place in Africa. (Al-Mal)
Moving to our investments talks, Egypt has signed an agreement with the American company "Apache" to explore for oil in the Western Desert, with a total investment of no less than 3.5 billion USD, according to a statement issued by the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources.
The agreement comes "within the framework of the new direction of the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources regarding increasing production rates and confronting the natural decline of wells." The total investments of the petroleum sector in Egypt, whether locally or by foreign investors, in the projects that have been operated, underway and under study, amounted to about 1.2 trillion EGP during the past seven years. (Bloomberg Asharq)
The Medium, Small and Micro Enterprise Development Agency (MSMEDA) and Misr El Kheir Foundation signed an agreement to establish new business incubators and launch programs to raise the capabilities of young people and entrepreneurs nationwide, especially in Upper Egypt.
Tarek Shash, Executive Vice President of MSMEDA, said that the agency is coordinating with various concerned authorities to spread the idea and culture of self-employment among citizens, especially in the governorates of Upper Egypt. (Arab Finance)
Turing to our EGX and companies talks, first, the EGX ended the year 2021 with a rise of 10.18% for its main indexEGX30, to close at 11,949 points, compared to a 22.3% drop in 2020 due to the repercussions of the Corona virus and intensive foreign sales.
The total value of trading shares of companies listed on the Egyptian Stock Exchange during 2021 increased by 30% over the previous year, to record 332 billion, the highest since 2008. While the market capitalization of listed companies reached 765 billion EGP, the highest since 2017. In addition, the stock exchange witnessed a rise in the circulation of government treasury bonds by 44% this year to 544 billion EGP. (EGX)
The investment banking division of EFG Hermes (HRHO) has successfully closed the first bond issuance worth 627.5 million EGP for Pioneers Properties for Urban Development’s affiliates 3 billion EGP securitization program, according to an emailed press release on December 30th, 2021.
This issuance is backed by a receivables portfolio valued at 798.3 million EGP, representing 850 sales contracts from Pioneers Properties for Urban Development’s affiliates. The offering consists of three tranches; the first is divided into fixed installments, while the second and third are subsequently disbursed contingent on the proceeds of the portfolio. (Arab Finance)
Credit Agricole Group has pumped 200 million EUR into the monorail megaproject in Egypt. This comes as part of a syndicated loan worth a total of 1.9 billion EUR to finance the project.
The monorail project is currently being implemented by the Egyptian government, with the aim of linking Cairo with the new cities in the New Administrative Capital. Extending over 96 kilometers, the monorail will connect a total of 34 stations, including 21 stations over the new capital’s line and 12 stations over the 6th of October’s line. (Amwal Al Ghad)
Altawheed Group has signed a partnership agreement with the South Korean company Araree at the commercial attaché of the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Cairo, according to an emailed press release on December 30th, 2021.
Under the agreement, Altawheed Group will serve as the South Korean company’s agent in Egypt. Araree, a major South Korean company specialized in manufacturing mobile phones’ accessories, is looking forward to pumping further investment into the Egyptian market as well as expanding in Africa and the GCC countries. (Arab Finance)
And finally, Capiter, an Egypt-based B2B marketplace, aims at raising 100 million USD (1.5 billion EGP) in funding during the second quarter (Q2) of 2022. Proceeds from the anticipated funding round will be used to offer Capiter’s services across 10 governorates in Egypt as well as to expand in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
The company will reveal the names of the targeted markets for expansion within weeks. Moreover, the company is close to obtaining a license for the provision of e-payment services in Egypt. Capiter’s platform now offers 16,000 products and aims at covering 100,000 products by mid-2022. (Arab Finance)