Egypt's Ministry of Industry decided to list the factories of the food industries that use mazut (heating oil) in their production in the decision of increasing the price of ton of mazut to EGP 1000; the sugar companies top the list. Reliable sources in the Ministry of Industry revealed to "Amwal Al Ghad" that Eng. Hatem Saleh, Minister of Industry and Foreign Trade, will ratify within hours the decision of selling the ton of mazut at EGP 1000 to the food industries companies, as it had happened before with the bricks companies. According to the decision No. 197/2013, which "Amwal Al Ghad" has acquainted with, affirms that the price of mazut can reach EGP 1000 pursuant to the second item of the Egyptian cabinet's decision 110/2013 on the food industries like sugar industries, producing macaroni, flour mills and food oil. The official prices of mazut were EGP 500 per ton and the prices ramp up EGP 700 during the crises times. However, the Ministry of Industry declared that it will increase the prices to EGP 1500, but finally it settled on EGP 1000 and the decision will be ratified within hours. More»

Suez Company for Polyester is about to finish the expansions in its factory at value of EGP 100 million. The company will expand its factor by constructing two production lines to recycle the Polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Mahmoud Ramadan, Board Chairman of Suez Company for Polyester, told "Amwal Al Ghad" that the first line will be finished by the end of 2013, while the second line will be finished by the end of 2014. He added that the first line's expansion will increase the production from 6000 to 30.000 tons every year, and the production will amount to 60.000 tons by finishing the second line. The factory depends on Egyptian Syrian investments; moreover, there is a negotiation with a number of banks to finance the expansions. More»

The Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce will convene on Sunday a joint meeting with the US trade mission to look into the ways of supporting the economic cooperation between the two countries. Ahmed Al Wakeel, Head of the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce, stated that he agreed with the officials in the US embassy to Cairo on including the meeting in the official program of the mission. Al Wakeel underlined the necessity of this visit at the current time to reassure the investors on investing in Egypt and to stress the US Egyptian cooperation. Egypt is aiming to ramp up its exports to the US market to $ 6 billion within 4 years; especially in the fields of ready-made garments, vegetables and fruit. On the same context, Al Wakeel mentioned that the federation will take part in the conference of the renewable energy in Greece this week, in order to represent Egypt there by delivering a keynote speech. The US trade mission arrived in Cairo yesterday. It is headed by John Hiatt and consists of nine whopping companies operate in the fields of renewable energy, security and tourism. More»

The Egyptian Ministry of Industry and Foreign Trade formed a committee to set the specifications and evaluate the offers of the companies that seek to the hotel investment. This procedure is included in the ministry's preparations for offering a 4 star hotel by the public private partnership (PPP), on an area of 30.000 square meters in Cairo International Convention and Exhibition Center. Eng. Hatem Saleh, Minister of Industry, said the expected investments for the hotel project are $ 70 million. It will provide 200 direct and indirect job opportunities, and its capacity is 300 rooms and 24 wings. The minister also mentioned that next May the work in establishing the conventions cities would be resumed, after the constructions suspended due to the financial disputes between Cairo Convention Center and the Chinese company, which implements the project. These statements came during the meeting with Chinese company, in the presence of the Chinese commercial advisor. The Chinese company confirmed its acceptance to resume implementing the project, which its costs are 400 million Yuan. More»

Port Said Port received today the fifth tour of the Lebanon shipping line. The ship "Zoya", which was coming from the Port of Tartous, unloaded 62 trucks carrying apples and heading to Al Obour market in 10th of Ramadan City, then Nuweiba Port in Jordon and finally to the Port of Tartous. Admiral Ahmed Naguib, Head of Port Said Ports Authority, stated that the coming period will witness increasing shipping movement through Port Said Port, particularly after the Lebanese private sector decided to invest in the tourism field in the promising places like Egypt. He has mentioned that he is exerting his effort to resolve the obstacles in order to reactivate the trade between the two countries, underscoring the necessity of making use of choosing Port Said City to attract the Lebanese investors and resuming the tours between Lebanon and Port Said Port. The ship "Zoya", which holds the flag of Belize, is 122.7 meters in length, 5.3 meters depth and at weight of 9368 tons.

In the last ten years, the Egyptian exports to the Iranian market had completely tumbled to reach the lowest rates. The exports during the first quarter of 2013 recorded EGP 37 million, compared to EGP 207 million at the same period of 2013; pursuant to sources from the Foreign Trade Sector to "Amwal Al Ghad". This decline concurred with the accusations of the Shiite Tide that directed by some Egyptian figures to Iran following Mahmud Ahmadinejad's visit to Cairo. The visit brought about weakening the commercial relations between Egypt and Iran, although the mutual presidential visits between the two countries to build new economic cooperation. The Egyptian exports to the Iranian market in the first quarter of 2013, according to the sources, were food commodities at EGP 28 million, while EGP 7 million were other exports. The agricultural crops sector is the biggest loser because of spoiling the commercial relations between the two countries, as this sector recorded EGP 150 million in the first quarter of 2012. More»

U.S. Acting Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade Ken Hyatt today announced he will lead a multi-sector trade mission to Egypt, April 13-15. The U.S. delegation will include representatives from nine U.S. firms that offer a broad range of products and services from a variety of industry sectors, including information technology, construction, renewable energy, and security. “This trade mission reiterates the United States’ commitment to deepening our long trade relationship with Egypt and to growing the already strong connections between our respective business communities,” Hyatt said. “The participating U.S. companies are eager to better understand the challenges and opportunities to doing business in Egypt, and we hope this mission helps pave the way for mutually beneficial partnerships for these companies in the future.” More»

The Egyptian Ministry of Industry and Foreign Trade has submitted an urgent memorandum to the cabinet in order to ratify the areas of the industrial lands in both of 10th of Ramadan City and Badr City for the Syrian investors; paving the way for the processes of establishing new investments within the coming weeks. Both of Eng. Hatem Saleh, Minister of Industry, and Tareq Wafiq, Minister of Housing, have signed the memorandum, as the two are liable for the processes of allocating and facilitating the industrial lands for the investors in general. A reliable source in the Ministry of Industry has told "Amwal Al Ghad" that this procedure is to meet the deficit in the areas that the Syrian investors demanded in those two cities because the areas offered to them by Al-Suwaidi Group in 10th of Ramadan City are inadequate. The source expected that the cabinet will arrive at a resolution within the coming few hours; especially after the Ministry of Industry held more than a meeting with the Syrian investors to agree on the rules of the allocation. More»

Official sources from the US embassy in Cairo have told Amwal Al Ghad that 9 American major companies are targeting injecting investments in the Egyptian market within the course of 2013. The sources added that the US companies working in fields of the renewable energy and petroleum explorations. Moreover, the sources disclosed that the list of the US firms planning pumping investments in Egypt includes prominent names; FrimGreen Inc., Google Inc., Greeley & Hansen LLC, Maybe Inc., SunEidson, Rapiscan Systems Ltd., Raytheon International Inc., Vanguard Defense Industries, and Pioneer Solar. The sources further noted that the 9 US firms will be holding a meeting with Egypt’s Investment Minister Osama Saleh alongside the Industry and Foreign Trade Minister Hatem Saleh on Sunday, April 14th so as to begin carrying out the firms’ planned projects in the country. More»

Four Japanese automakers including Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T), Nissan Motor Co (7201.T) and Honda Motor Co (7267.T) are recalling a total of about 3.4 million vehicles worldwide as a result of an airbag problem, the companies said on Thursday. Japanese auto parts maker Takata Corp (7312.T) spokesman Toyohiro Hishikawa said the company supplied the airbags related to the recalls. Toyota is recalling about 1.73 million vehicles globally, including 580,000 vehicles in North America and 490,000 vehicles in Europe because some airbags at the front seat next to the driver may not inflate when necessary, spokesman Ryo Sakai said. More»