Egypt's engineering sector has become one of the country's successful export stories, and officials are now striving to significantly boost this growth. The government has set a goal to increase the volume of engineering goods exports from approximately $6.5 billion in 2025 to $13 billion by 2030, which means doubling the sector's share in global markets within five years.
This plan is the result of joint efforts by the Export Development Fund and the Egyptian Engineering Goods Export Council. Instead of adopting a single policy initiative, a comprehensive plan was developed to change the state's approach to supporting companies that manufacture and ship engineering products abroad.
At the heart of this strategy is the revision of state support mechanisms for exporters. Hatem El-Nawawi, head of the Export Development Fund, noted that the new approach goes beyond simply providing financial incentives. The Fund intends to help manufacturers prepare for export from the very beginning: meeting international standards, increasing production capacity, and enhancing the competitiveness of their products in foreign markets.
Furthermore, bureaucratic aspects of exports are planned for modernization. Officials are actively promoting the digitalization of export procedures to reduce complexities associated with government paperwork and speed up coordination with exporters. For manufacturers who have long complained about red tape, this aspect may prove as important as any subsidies.
The strategy also relies on existing trade agreements. There are plans to more actively utilize the African Continental Free Trade Area, which provides access to a market of over a billion people, as well as the MERCOSUR agreement, covering major South American economies. Sherif El-Sayyad, chairman of the Engineering Goods Export Council, emphasized that Africa and South America are key directions for achieving the 2030 goal, as these regions have historically not been primary consumers of Egyptian engineering products compared to Europe and the Persian Gulf.
In addition, the strategy provides for closer integration of Egyptian companies into the global supply chain. This includes increasing local production of components instead of relying on imports and shifting the export assortment towards higher value-added goods that are difficult for low-cost competitors to imitate.
These ambitions are supported by the steady growth of Egypt's engineering goods exports over the past two years. In the first half of 2025 alone, the sector reached a record $3.1 billion, and throughout 2025, figures were high across all segments, including electronics, mechanical engineering, and transport equipment, which showed double-digit growth. Early 2026 data indicates sustained momentum, as El-Sayyad pointed to nearly 20% annual growth in the sector during the first four months of the current year.
This track record gives officials confidence in the realism of the 2030 target. The growth has been broad, covering cables, automotive components, home appliances, and industrial equipment, with demand rising not only from traditional partners in Europe but also from countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council, African markets such as Nigeria and Kenya, and more distant destinations, including the USA and China. Officials have also included this sector among seven priority industries under Egypt's Industrial Strategy for 2030.
The $13 billion target for the engineering sector is part of much larger plans. El-Sayyad linked this goal to the government's overall objective of increasing Egypt's total exports to $100 billion by 2030. Achieving these figures depends on numerous external factors, such as global demand, currency stability, and competition from other manufacturing hubs. Nevertheless, thanks to the reform of the support system and the sector's already demonstrated high performance, officials in Cairo believe that all elements are aligning for the engineering sector to become a pillar of the country's export economy in the next five years.
Strong Chinese export figures supported the world's second-largest economy, which is leveraging a global technology boom amid economic difficulties caused by the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
According to customs data published on Tuesday, China's exports in June increased by 27 percent compared to the same period last year, marking the largest percentage growth in the last four months. This growth exceeded analysts' forecasts and was largely driven by demand for semiconductors, as there are massive investments worldwide spurred by the drive to develop advanced artificial intelligence.
Concurrently, imports rose by 36 percent year-on-year, reaching a five-year high, despite crude oil imports declining to nearly a decade low. Chinese data showed that crude oil imports fell by 41.3 percent year-on-year in June, as the country's refineries restricted operations and relied on domestic reserves instead of new purchases.
China's growing exports and energy self-sufficiency helped mitigate the economic impact of the war in Iran, which affected crude oil production in the Middle East and disrupted supplies to major buyers. In the Brent crude market, the global benchmark, there was a 1.4 percent increase to a monthly high of $84.49 per barrel on Tuesday, occurring two days after the largest single-day gain in six years.
