How Indo-Egypt trade may get a boost after coronavirus

 

How Indo-Egypt trade may get a boost after coronavirus

 

 

 

Analysis by Ahmed Kamel

Bilateral trade and joint investment among world countries create growing value added opportunities for the private sector and individuals seeking jobs. The post-Covid economic planning will rely heavily on building up the national capabilities of countries, especially in the south developing world.

A number of developing countries are tipped to boost their industrial potential to slash dependence on imports, or even reshape their foreign trade and investment away from China, which is deemed as a direct source for the Covid-19 pandemic, which has killed hundreds thousands of people across the world.

India may become a strong candidate to replace China as a major trade and investment partner as part of a south-south long-term strategy. The D-8 countries, which include Egypt, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Turkey, Iran, Nigeria and Indonesia, may seek India as their new business partner in the coming decade.

India’s exports totaled $313.217 billion in the fiscal year 2019/20, data from India’s Ministry of Commerce.  India’s fiscal year begins on April 1.

Here I focus on Egyptian-Indian cooperation, which may get a boost in the post-Covid era.

India is the 3^rd largest foreign investor in Egypt with investments totaling $3 billion, mainly in spinning and weaving, petroleum and petrochemicals.   

India is Egypt’s third trading partner. It is Bilateral trade between the two countries rose to $4.55 billion in 2019 from $3.68 billion a year earlier, Rahul Kulshreshth, Indian ambassador in Cairo, was quoted as saying by the Egyptian media. 

India’s major exports include mineral fuels, mineral oils and products of their distillation; bituminous substances; mineral waxes, which account for 14% of the country’s exports.

India's top exports also include organic chemicals (5.5%), pharmaceutical products (5%), natural or cultured pearls, precious or semiprecious stones and jewelry (12%), nuclear reactors, boilers, machinery and mechanical appliances (6%), electrical machinery and equipment (4.8%), vehicles other than railway or tramway rolling stock, and parts and accessories (5.4%) and ships, boats and floating structures (1.5%).

If Indian manufacturers focus on automotive production, electronics such as smart phones, laptops and consumer goods, the Asian giant may increase its exports, especially as production costs in China are on the rise due to higher wages.

A rising yuan along with the coronavirus concerns as well as any other pandemic coming from China may pave the way for some other leading exporters, namely India, Malaysia and Indonesia.

However, India may emerge as the top gainer in the long term in the wake of its skillful labor and advanced technology and know-how. Egypt may bank on the Indian experience in developing its small and medium enterprises (SMEs), as well as upgrading its software and computer industry.

Egypt’s exports to India

Currently, India imports vegetables, fruit, citrus fruit, beverages, spirits and vinegar from Egypt. It also imports salt; sulfur, earths and stone; plastering materials, lime and cement.

Egyptian exports to India also include mineral fuels, mineral oils and products of their distillation; bituminous substances; mineral waxes, inorganic chemicals, organic or inorganic compounds of precious metals, of rare-earth metals, cotton and fertilizers.  

Egypt’s imports from India

India exports a wide range of commodities and goods to Egypt such as meat, coffee, tea, mate, spices, mineral fuels, mineral oils and products of their distillation; bituminous substances; mineral waxes, pharmaceutical products, tanning or dyeing extracts; dyes, pigments and other coloring matter, paints and cotton.

Egypt’s imports from India also include vehicles other than railway or tramway rolling stock, and parts and accessories, plastic, rubber, optical, photographic cinematographic measuring, checking precision, medical or surgical inst. and apparatus parts and accessories, and organic chemicals.