Egypt’s Trade Deficit Narrows to Lowest in Six Years as Exports Surge

Egypt’s non-oil trade deficit fell sharply in the first half of 2025, reaching its lowest level in six years at $14.3 billion, down nearly 18% year-over-year, according to Bloomberg.

The improvement was largely driven by a surge in goods exports, which rose by 22% to $24.5 billion between January and June. Imports during the same period also increased, but only marginally, up 3% to $38.8 billion.

In the same period last year, the trade deficit stood at $17.4 billion.

The biggest contributor to Egypt’s export growth was the building materials and metals sector, which accounted for 30% of total goods exports — approximately $7.5 billion. Other major contributors included:

Chemicals and fertilizers: $4.5 billion (18%)

Food industries: $3.3 billion (13%)

Engineering products: $3.1 billion (12%)

Agricultural exports: $2.9 billion (12%)

Ready-made garments: $1.6 billion (6.5%)

The government aims to increase total exports to $145 billion by 2030, with $118 billion coming from industrial exports.

UAE Leads as Top Export Destination

Five countries accounted for nearly 40% of Egypt’s total exports in the first half of 2025:

United Arab Emirates – $3.7 billion (up 163% YoY)

Turkey – $1.6 billion

Saudi Arabia – $1.4 billion (down 14%)

United States – $1.43 billion

Italy – $1.37 billion

The rise in non-oil exports helped offset declining Suez Canal revenues, which have been impacted by disruptions in Red Sea shipping caused by Houthi attacks. In 2024, Egypt's total exports grew 5.4% to $44.8 billion, of which $39.4 billion were non-oil exports, according to the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics.

Despite the positive trend, Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade Hassan El-Khatib acknowledged in January that Egypt's exports still represent only 10% of GDP, one of the lowest ratios globally. The government’s target is to raise this figure to 20–30%, while maintaining import levels at around 20% of GDP, a rate El-Khatib called “moderate.”

As part of its new export support framework, Egypt plans to link incentives to annual increases of 5% in local content, maintaining a minimum threshold of 35% local input for eligibility.

The government has also nearly doubled its export support budget, allocating EGP 45 billion ($975 million) for fiscal year 2025–2026, compared to EGP 23 billion the previous year.