Egyptian exports to France on the increase
Egypt-France, Economics, 2/18/2002

Although exports to France are on the increase, growing by 13.43 per cent annually, the potential for growth would be greater if more Egyptian exporters were to make the effort to study the market more closely and recognise the huge investment capabilities there.

Businessmen who are well acquainted with the French market are, however, aware of the difficulties in this field namely,the language barrier, delays in the execution of deals, and matching Egyptian production with the needs of the French market.

These problems are made manifest in the substandard finish of products, the failure to provide relevant certification, an inadequate air fleet, and the high costs of transportation and shipping.

Businessmen are calling for the elimination of these obstacles so that Egyptian exports to France can flow more easily.

The board chairman of a ready-made clothes company and an exporter to France, Mohamed Hashem, says that the French market is one of the biggest international markets economically open to Egypt, and that it is capable of importing many and various goods if they are of an appropriate quality and suitable price.

"A company exporting to France will be considered highly successful because it has managed to break into one of the biggest and most difficult countries to access, it being part of the European Union," he said.

He emphasised the difficulties, in terms of trade restrictions, faced by companies wanting to export goods to countries that are members of the European Community.

"The restrictions are imposed in the form of conditions and commitments on exporters, in terms of the kind of product, certificates of origin, the style of packing and packaging, and the examination of products for the issue of health certificates - even if they are primary or mineral materials already used in other industries in France," he told Alam el-Youm daily magazine.

Hashem pointed out that the French market has a constant demand for agriculture products, ready-made clothes, cotton, varieties of flora and perfume oils, all of which the Egyptian market could supply.

The head of the executive body of the Egyptians Export Development Centre said that the centre is working to support moves to increase exports between Egypt and France through the trade office in Paris.

The function of the trade office is to equip Egyptian exporters with the information they need to deal with the French markets, including details of French companies working in their particular fields in order to facilitate integrated cooperation to cover the needs of the market.

"The investment development in trade and industry with the French market is dependent on a number of bilateral agreements supporting comprehensive development in trade exchange, which are part of a comprehensive agreement reached in 1997.

This positive participation in trade relations - together with the agriculture products protocol of 1988, an agreement to encourage exports made in 1989 and various other agreements - are set to boost trade exchange between Egypt and France," he said.

He added that these agreements have already helped to increase the volume of Egyptian exports to France.

"Egypt is participating in French projects in its industrial cities. Investment Authority statistics show a total investment there of LE150bn since 1983," he concluded.

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