Indonesia has secured its status as Egypt’s second preeminent soap exporter, boasting an impressive export value of $4.48 million throughout 2023, thereby clinching 16.45 percent of Egypt’s soap import market. This revelation came from Luthfi Rauf, the Indonesian Ambassador to Egypt, during a discourse on March 28, 2024, with stakeholders including importers of Indonesian soap products, corporate executives, and representatives from the Industrial Development Authority located in Sadat City, Egypt.
Rauf accentuated the exponential surge in Indonesian soap exports, noting a monumental 1,660 percent elevation from December 2022’s export figures of merely $255,000, signaling burgeoning prospects for Indonesia within the Egyptian marketplace.
M. Syahran Bhakti, the Indonesian Trade Attaché, shed light on the evolving Egyptian soap market, delineating its extension beyond mere household utility to encompass sectors of health and body care, alongside emerging markets for gifts, souvenirs, and home fragrances. Despite onerous import duties pegged between 40-60 percent, Egyptian clientele has demonstrated a predilection for Indonesian soaps, predominantly crafted from vegetable oils, underscoring the products’ allure in terms of quality and environmental sustainability.
Malaysia retains supremacy as the foremost soap exporter to Egypt, with a commanding 79.50 percent market share, attributed to exports valued at $21.57 million. Indonesia’s ascendance situates it ahead of contenders such as Germany and Turkey, which occupy marginal slices of the market at 1.93 percent and 1.89 percent, respectively, backed by exports tallying $523,000 and $512,000.
Further insights into the Egyptian soap market emanated from Mr. Mohamed Khallaf, a purveyor of Indonesian soap, who elucidated the demand for vegetable oil-based raw soap materials, earmarked for conversion into solid toilet soap, averaging yearly imports between 3,000 to 4,000 tons.
Khallaf lauded the Indonesian product for its skin-protective, cost-effective, and eco-friendly properties, reflecting on his decade-long engagement with the sector. His firm remains attuned to the middle to lower echelons of the market, characterized by robust turnover and pronounced price sensitivity.
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