A recent report issued by Gold Bullion has revealed the reasons for the decrease in Egypt’s exports of jewelry and precious stones during the first five months of 2023 by 45%, to record $425m, compared to $766m during the same period of 2022. The main reason behind this decline is due to weak global demand for gold during the first half of the year due to depreciation of gold prices and investors directed to government bond markets, which were characterised during the last period by high returns on them. The Gold Bullion report stated that Egyptian exports of jewelry and precious stones are still focused on some traditional markets without opening new markets for exports, as Canada ranks first with about $309m, compared to about $320m during the same period of 2022. The report highlighted that high demand for bullion and gold pounds at this record level caused decline in domestic supply of gold due to the strength of demand, and therefore gold companies worked to fulfill domestic purchase orders instead of paying attention to export, which at the same time suffered from weak external demand. In addition, the continuation of global central banks in buying gold and increasing its reserves of the gold, which in turn will increase global demand for gold and thus will cause an increase in its prices and an increase in demand for it, and then an increase in exports.

Source: Daily News Egypt July 16, 2023 21:55 UTC