Raza Khan

Pakistan Business Council (PBC) has urged the government to negotiate the issue of high tariffs with Egyptian authorities to enhance the export of its products, WealthPK reports. “Pakistan’s top potential products for export to Egypt are subjected to high tariffs up to 40%. It is affecting the country’s export to an important market in Africa,” PBC said in a report. Egypt has imposed heavy tariffs in the range of 5% to 40% on textile products imported from Pakistan.

However, Egypt charges relatively lower tariffs between zero and 20% for giving access to the Pakistani market. “The government should initiate negotiations with Egypt to seek tariff parity to enhance Pakistan’s exports to Egypt,” said the report. For Pakistan, there is an export potential of around $1.1 billion in Egypt mainly driven by the agricultural sector, accounting for $105.7 million; the textile sector with $226.5 million; pharmaceutical and surgical sector with $258.0 million; and the plastic and rubber sector accounting for $62.3 million.

However, all the potential Pakistani products are subjected to relatively high tariffs imposed by the Egyptian authorities. The PBC has also urged the government to start negotiations with the Egyptian government for a Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) between the two countries. Since Pakistan needs natural gas to fulfil its domestic demand, a long-term agreement with Egypt for the import of natural gas would reduce its dependency on limited sources.

“Since the trade potential with Egypt is high, it is better to start negotiation for PTA as soon as possible,” said the report. Although Pakistan’s exports to Egypt are increasing gradually, the trade balance has remained in favour of Egypt during the last seven years. According to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), Egypt remained the third largest market for Pakistan in Africa during the first five months of the current fiscal. The volume of Pakistan’s exports to Egypt was recorded at $48 million during the first five months of the current fiscal against $61.30 million during the same period of the last financial year, showing a decline of 2.69%.

A decline of 72.25% was also recorded in imports from Egypt during the first five months of the current fiscal. The value of imports reduced to $49.90 million from $ 179.88 million during this period. Recently, Egypt has desired to import more meat and rice from Pakistan.

Ambassador of Egypt to Pakistan Tarek Mohamed Dahroug, during a meeting with Minister for Commerce Syed Naveed Qamar, expressed the desire to enhance the import of rice and halal meat from Pakistan.  The ambassador specifically urged the Pakistani government to make it easier for Egyptian importers to purchase Halal meat and rice. “Pakistani meat and rice are better in quality,” he said.

Naveed Qamar observed that total trade between Pakistan and Egypt stood at $636.89 million during 2021-22 out of which exports amounted to $104.68 million and imports from Egypt stood at $532.21 million, which did not match the actual potential of the trade. Ambassador Tarek guaranteed to solve the visa problem faced by the Pakistani business community.

Last year, Egypt approved 10 slaughterhouses of Pakistani companies for the import of meat. The slaughterhouses of the approved companies include Fauji Meat Ltd, P.K. Live Stock & Meat Company (Pvt), Tata Best Food Ltd, Al Shaheer Corporation (Ltd), the Organic Meat Company (Pvt), Tazij Meat and Food, Abedin International Abattoirs (Pvt), and Zenith Associates, according to the information gathered by WealthPK.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk