European exports are much larger than EU imports from Egypt. Exports have been growing since 1993 by more than 22 % while imports have been declining. Exports reached 7.3 billion ECU in 1998, while imports from Egypt only had an amount of 2.4 billion ECU (EU Annual report: Egypt, 1998) .
The main European exports to Egypt are frozen meats and dairy products. Also cereals have a large export value but exports are very seasonal with high annual fluctuations. The export of live animals used to be very important until a rapid decline in 1995. During the past two years, increases in fish and confectionery exports are noticeable. The main exporting countries to Egypt are Germany followed by France, Italy and the UK. The leading countries exporting dairy products, especially cheese to Egypt are the Netherlands followed by France. Other important dairy exports are butter and dried milk powder, for which Egypt is not self-sufficient. In total Egypt imported 41 % of agricultural commodities from European countries and 24 % from the USA in 1997.
Egypt itself mainly exports fresh vegetables to Europe and to a lesser extent oil seeds and other seeds.
Egypt and the GATT Agreement
Over the past few years Egypt was forced to lower its tariffs with exception of alcohol, tobacco and cars. But recently Egypt also had to implement tremendous tariff reductions with exception of alcohol, tobacco and cars. The nominal unweighted average tariff fell slightly from 33 % to 24 % in 1998, while the trade weighted tariff reached 28 % in 1998. At the same time trade-related transaction costs and NTB rose. New rising NTB's have largely affected EU exports to Egypt and a lot of issues are still unsolved.
This includes: