China-Egypt trade in goods up 18.7 pct in Jan-July period

China's import from and export to Egypt totaled 95.19 billion yuan (about 14.16 billion U.S. dollars) in the first seven months of 2026, up 18.7 percent year on year, according to data released by the General Administration of Customs (GAC) on Wednesday.

In particular, China's imports of Egyptian agricultural products surged by 82.6 percent year on year in the period, accounting for 41.7 percent of the country's total import from Egypt, the data showed.

Egypt has become China's largest source of frozen strawberry imports and its third largest source of flax imports, the GAC noted.

On the other hand, China exported 51.53 billion yuan worth of mechanical and electrical products to Egypt from January to July, marking a year-on-year increase of 23.9 percent and accounting for 56.9 percent of the country's total export to Egypt.

With complementary resources, China and Egypt have reaped win-win results in bilateral cooperation based on the Belt and Road Initiative, said the GAC.

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Egypt.

China-Egypt trade in goods up 18.7 pct in Jan-July period

China-Egypt trade in goods up 18.7 pct in Jan-July period

China-Egypt trade in goods up 18.7 pct in Jan-July period

China-Egypt trade in goods up 18.7 pct in Jan-July period

France has brought all its official gold reserves back home, in a move that netted more than 12 billion euros in profits -- and underscored growing unease about the world's heavy dependence on the U.S. dollar amid rising geopolitical tensions, according to a French economist.

Between July 2025 and January 2026, the Bank of France completed the transfer of the final 129 tons of gold, clearing out all holdings previously stored in the United States.

Older, non-standard bars held in New York were sold, and an equivalent amount of new, internationally standardized bars was purchased on the European market and stored in the central bank's underground vault.

The operation required no large-scale physical shipment of gold and generated approximately 12.8 billion euros in gains.

The move comes as central banks around the world continue to increase their gold holdings, with some countries choosing to bring reserves home for greater security.

"What are the reasons behind this recent goal policy of France? As I said, the official reason was just to adjust the quality standard. But then we can see two other reasons. The other reason is a kind of geopolitical reasons, for sovereignty reasons. Central banks now are reconsidering the importance of gold because today the dominant currency in the world is still the U.S. dollar. But a lot of countries now think that there might be confidence problem in the U.S. dollar because of current U.S. policies," Eric Monnet, a professor at the Paris School of Economics.

France pulls all gold from US amid mounting geopolitical concerns: expert