That calculated dollar amount results from a 32.5% increase compared to five years earlier in 2020 when Egyptian exports totaled $29.3 billion.
Year over year, the value of Egypt’s overall exports fell by -7.6% from $42.1 billion during 2023.
Based on the average exchange rate for 2024, Egypt’s legal currency is the Egyptian pound which depreciated by -30.3% against the US dollar from 2023 to 2024. The depleted Egyptian currency in 2024 made Egypt’s exports paid for in stronger US dollars relatively less expensive for international buyers starting with American currency.
Egypt’s Major International Trade Partners
The latest data from 2023 shows that 55.2% of products exported from Egypt was bought by importers in: Türkiye (9% of the Egyptian total), Italy (7.5%), Saudi Arabia (6.4%), United Arab Emirates (5.3%), United States of America (4.6%), Libya (4.3%), Spain (4.2%), Greece (3.7%), United Kingdom (2.9%), India (2.8%), Sudan (2.3%) and the Netherlands (2.2%).
From a continental perspective, 39.3% of Egypt’s exports by value was delivered to Asian countries while 34.7% was sold to European importers. Egypt shipped another 17.7% worth of goods to buyers in Africa.
Smaller percentages went to customers in North America (6.1%), Latin America (2.1%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean, then Oceania (0.1%) led by Australia and New Zealand.
Given Egypt’s population of 107.3 million people, its total $38.8 billion in 2024 exports translates to about $360 for every resident in the transcontinental nation. That dollar metric lags the average $400 per capita one year earlier in 2023.
Egypt’s Top 10 Exports
The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Egyptian global shipments during 2024. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from Egypt.
- Mineral fuels including oil: US$10.6 billion (27.4% of total exports)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: $2.5 billion (6.3%)
- Fertilizers: $2.4 billion (6.3%)
- Fruits, nuts: $2 billion (5.1%)
- Iron, steel: $1.9 billion (4.9%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: $1.84 billion (4.7%)
- Knit or crochet clothing, accessories: $1.53 billion (3.9%)
- Vegetables: $1.46 billion (3.8%)
- Gems, precious metals: $1.34 billion (3.5%)
- Salt, sulphur, stone, cement: $1.33 billion (3.4%)
Egypt’s top 10 export product categories generated exceeded two-thirds (69.3%) of the overall value of its global shipments.
Knitted or crocheted clothing and accessories represent the fastest grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 86.6% year over year since 2023.
The other gainer was mineral fuels including oil, which rose 44.2% led by processed petroleum oils.
The leading decliner among the top 10 Egyptian export categories was gems and precious metals which fell -27.7% year over year, pulled down by lower revenues for exported gold.
The above information is presented at the 2-digit Harmonized Tariff System (HTS) code level.
From the more granular 4-digit HTS code perspective, processed petroleum oils were the top Egyptian export (20.5% of total exports) during 2024. In second place was crude oil (5.1%) trailed by nitrogenous fertilizers (4.1%), unwrought gold (3.4%), insulated wire or cable (3.2%), hot-rolled or non-alloy steel products (2.4%), fresh or dried citrus fruit (2.2%), copper wire (2.1%), television receivers, monitors and projectors (1.7%), then unknitted and non-crocheted men’s suits and trousers (1.6%).
Countries Generating Egypt’s Biggest Trade Surpluses
The following types of Egyptian product shipments represent positive net exports or a trade balance surplus. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports.
In a nutshell, net exports represent the amount by which foreign spending on a home country’s goods or services exceeds or lags the home country’s spending on foreign goods or services.
- Fertilizers: US$2.3 billion (Up by 5.3% since 2023)
- Fruits, nuts: $1.8 billion (Down by -1.3%)
- Knit or crochet clothing, accessories: $1.4 billion (Up by 103.7%)
- Clothing, accessories (not knit or crochet): $1.2 billion (Down by -18.9%)
- Salt, sulphur, stone, cement: $1.15 billion (Up by 3.6%)
- Gems, precious metals: $1.1 billion (Down by -35.3%)
- Vegetables: $809.8 million (Down by -23.1%)
- Vegetable/fruit/nut preparations: $661 million (Down by -12.5%)
- Copper: $518.6 million (Reversing a -$1 billion deficit)
- Textile floor coverings: $347.1 million (Down by -0.8%)
Historically, Egypt has highly positive net exports in the international trade of fertilizers. In turn, these cashflows indicate Egypt’s strong competitive advantages under the fertilizers product category.
Countries Causing Egypt’s Worst Trade Deficits
Egypt incurred an estimated -US$38.8 billion product trade deficit for 2024, down by -5.6% from the -$41.1 billion in red ink one year earlier for 2023.
Below are exports from Egypt that result in negative net exports or product trade balance deficits. These negative net exports reveal product categories where foreign spending on home country Egypt’s goods trail Egyptian importer spending on foreign products.
- Machinery including computers: -US$8.1 billion (Up by 24.3% since 2023)
- Vehicles: -$4.5 billion (Up by 32.7%)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: -$3.2 billion (Up by 32.2%)
- Organic chemicals: -$2.77 billion (Up by 33.5%)
- Pharmaceuticals: -$2.74 billion (Down by -16.1%)
- Cereals: -$2.74 billion (Down by -57%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: -$1.9 billion (Down by -2.4%)
- Iron, steel: -$1.64 billion (Down by -13.2%)
- Oil seeds: -$1.53 billion (Up by 5%)
- Animal/vegetable fats, oils, waxes: -$1.5 billion (Down by -32.3%)
Historically, Egypt has highly negative net exports and therefore deep international trade deficits for machinery-related products.
Egyptian Export Companies
One Egyptian regional bank ranks among Forbes Global 2000 for 2020, namely Cairo-based Commercial International Bank.
Wikipedia lists some exports-related companies from Egypt. Selected examples are shown below.
- ABU QIR Fertilizers and Chemicals Industries (nitrogen fertilizers)
- Al-Mansour Automotive (automobiles)
- Arab American Vehicles (automobiles)
- Arab Contractors (construction materials)
- BiscoMisr (baked products)
- Challenger Ltd (oil, gas)
- Corona (confectionery, chocolate)
- Egyptian Natural Gas (oil, gas)
- Egy-Tech Engineering (automobiles)
- Juhayna (beverages, yogurt)
In macroeconomic terms, Egypt’s total exported goods represent 1.7% of its overall Gross Domestic Product for 2024 ($2.227 trillion valued in Purchasing Power Parity US dollars). That 1.7% for exports to overall GDP in PPP for 2024 lags the 2.3% for 2023. Those metrics suggest a relatively decreasing reliance on products sold on international markets for Egypt’s total economic performance, albeit based on a relatively short timeframe.
Another key indicator of a country’s economic performance is its unemployment rate. Egypt’s unemployment rate averaged 7.375% for 2024, up from an average 7.185% one year earlier in 2023 according to International Monetary Fund statistics.
Egypt’s capital city is Cairo.
See also Egypt’s Top 10 Imports, Uganda’s Top 10 Exports, Somalia’s Top 10 Exports, Turkey’s Top Trading Partners and India’s Top Trading Partners
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook report on South Asia: Sri Lanka. Accessed on May 7, 2025
EXCHANGE-RATES.org Egyptian Pound (EGP) to US Dollar, Exchange Rate History. Accessed on May 7, 2025
FlagPictures.org, Flag of Egypt. Accessed on May 7, 2025
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on May 7, 2025
International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on May 7, 2025
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on May 7, 2025
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on May 7, 2025
United States Census Bureau, Foreign Trade . Accessed on May 7, 2025
Wikipedia, Egypt. Accessed on May 7, 2025
Wikipedia, Gross domestic product. Accessed on May 7, 2025
Wikipedia, List of Companies of Egypt. Accessed on May 7, 2025
Wikipedia, Purchasing power parity. Accessed on May 7, 2025