Zhejiang's trade scale with Egypt ranks first in the country

Egypt is located at the intersection of Asia, Africa, and Europe, and has been an important channel for East West trade since ancient times. In recent years, the economic and trade exchanges between Zhejiang and Egypt have continued to deepen, with the import and export scale increasing from 18.15 billion yuan in 2016 to 38.23 billion yuan in 2025, an average annual growth rate of 8.6%, and the trade scale ranking first among all provinces and cities in China. According to statistics from Hangzhou Customs, in the first seven months of this year, Zhejiang's imports and exports to Egypt amounted to 24.83 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 14.5%, which was 5.0 percentage points faster than the province's foreign trade growth rate and accounted for 26.1% of the country's total imports and exports to Egypt. Egypt has become an important trading market for Zhejiang in Africa.

Mechanical and electrical products are the main force of Zhejiang's exports to Egypt. In the first seven months, Zhejiang exported 10.83 billion yuan worth of mechanical and electrical products to Egypt, an increase of 27.0%, accounting for 44.9% of Zhejiang's total export value to Egypt during the same period, an increase of 4.3 percentage points compared to the same period last year.

In the production workshop of China Jushi Corporation Limited located in Jiaxing, a batch of electrical control cabinets and wire drawing machine accessories were inspected by Jiaxing Customs under the jurisdiction of Hangzhou Customs and packed for shipment. They will be transported to the production base of Jushi Egypt Fiberglass Co., Ltd. for maintenance and renovation of the local fiberglass production line. Our overseas subsidiary located in the Suez Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone in Egypt currently has four tank furnace wire drawing production lines with a total production capacity of 360000 tons, making it the largest fiberglass production base in Africa. Zhao Chunjie, head of the International Business Department of Jushi Company, said that the batch of electromechanical products exported this time is mainly used for the cold repair project of Jushi Egypt's old tank furnace, and the delivery time directly affects the resumption progress of production on the Egyptian production line.

In order to support the rapid growth of mechanical and electrical product exports in the jurisdiction, Jiaxing Customs has carried out point-to-point policy promotion based on the high value and tight shipping schedule of enterprise mechanical and electrical products, guiding enterprises to do a good job in product classification and pre judgment, and opening a green inspection channel to ensure the smooth export of complete sets of equipment.

The increase in imports is also pleasing. Starting from May 1st this year, China has fully implemented a zero tariff policy towards 53 African countries that have established diplomatic relations, including Egypt. Thanks to this, Zhejiang's imports of agricultural products from Egypt increased by 98.9% in the first seven months, especially as an important raw material for Zhejiang's advantageous traditional industry textile industry, flax imports increased by 1.4 times year-on-year.

Our company imports a large amount of flax raw materials from Egypt every year, and in previous years, import tariffs alone were a significant expense, compressing the company's profit margin for a long time, "sighed Sun Yaohui, the foreign trade manager of Zhejiang Zaixin Linen Technology Co., Ltd." Now with the certificate of origin from Egypt, we don't have to pay any tariffs on this batch of goods. This policy discount has already saved us nearly a million yuan, reduced costs, and made us more willing to accept orders and quote prices. "With the implementation of the non-zero tariff measures, the policy dividends have directly reached the market entities, bringing new development opportunities to the flax industry in Huzhou. This year's import volume is expected to exceed 120 million yuan.

To promote the rapid release of policy dividends, Hangzhou Customs has established a special model based on big data to analyze the trade situation with countries that have diplomatic relations with Africa, and to sort out the list of key imported goods and preferential enterprises in its jurisdiction. At the same time, through various forms such as the "Red Boat Enterprise Navigation" service platform and on-site visits to enterprises, we accurately interpret the scope of application and declaration process of measures for import and export enterprises, proactively connect with enterprise import plans, guide enterprises to standardize declaration, dynamically solve difficulties and bottlenecks in the process of enjoying benefits, and ensure that the benefits of measures are accurately and fully realized.

"This year coincides with the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Egypt. As the cooperation between China and Egypt in jointly building the 'the Belt and Road' continues to deepen and materialize, the dividend of the zero tariff policy continues to be released, and the economic and trade exchanges between Zhejiang and Egypt are expected to reach a new level," said Shen Yongping, deputy director of the Statistics and Analysis Department of Hangzhou Customs.