CAIRO, September 14, 2026 — Egypt may have started to refresh its position in global trade.
According to Visual Capitalist’s analysis based on WTO data conducted in September 2026, merchandise exports from Egypt experienced strong growth of 21.7% in 2025, reaching around $51.4 billion, compared to about $42.25 billion in 2024. This growth brought Egypt to 55th place in the world in terms of merchandise exports and is already being seen as one of the clearest signs that Egypt is attempting to translate its production abilities into a more favourable position in the global market.
However, the situation is even more significant further east.
The UAE has taken the leading position in merchandise trading in the Arab world by achieving total merchandise trade in 2025 of around $1.3 trillion and 12th place globally by volume. What sets the United Arab Emirates apart is its ninth place globally in merchandise exports, making it the only Arab country in the top 10 largest merchandise exporters.
The UAE is turning into much more than just a regional marketplace for Egypt. WTO data shows that Emirates received around 7 billion dollars’ worth of exports from Egypt. This accounts for 13.9% of Egypt’s total exports and makes the UAE the second major export destination for Egypt after the EU.
The enormity of the growing relationship is clear from Egypt’s official bilateral trade measures. In the report released on 9 February 2026, Egypt’s Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics declared that total trade between Egypt and the UAE has reached 9.7 billion dollars in 2025 compared to 6 billion dollars supplied to the UAE in 2024. Egyptian exports to the UAE increased more than twofold to 7 billion dollars, from only 3.3 billion dollars a year before, which is above 112.1%.
What is behind this development? The exports from Egypt range between gold, fertilisers, petroleum goods, agricultural products, and goods that are produced, giving Egypt the benefit of exposure to gross commodity players but at the same time to high-value goods. The 5.1% Emirates performance looks impressive at first glance, but in reality it indicates its role as a world logistics and distribution centre serving markets in Asia, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East.
The two cases definitely demonstrate the differences. Egypt is just growing its export engine. In contrast, the UAE has developed a significant logistics platform.
The question now is whether Egypt can convert the 21.7% export surge in 2025 into a long-term success and whether its strong trade ties with the UAE can serve as a bridge transporting its goods abroad.
