The Egyptian petroleum ministry has confirmed that China's Xingfa chemicals group plans to invest $2 billion in phosphate exploration projects in the Arab nation, as Beijing and Cairo strengthen ties.
The company will make investments in Golden Triangle, a stretch of land on Egypt's Red Sea coast, to extract phosphate and produce products from the mineral, Egypt’s Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources said in a statement on Facebook on Thursday.
The project will be implemented in three phases, although the timeline was not revealed. The industrial complex being set up will be Xingfa's largest outside China.
Golden Triangle is a major economic zone between Qena, Safaga and Quseir established by the government to drive investment in sectors including mining, agriculture and tourism.
“The project is in line with the ministry’s strategy to advance the mining sector and expand the value added mining industries,” Karim Badawi, Egypt’s Minister of Petroleum and Minerals, said. The ministry will support the implementation of the project, he added.
The Arab world’s most populous country has vast mineral resources, including iron, gold, copper, zinc and chromium.
Egypt's phosphate reserves are estimated at about one billion tonnes. They are found along the Red Sea coast between Port Safaga and Quseir, in the Nile Valley between Adfo and Qena, as well as in the Abu Tartour Plateau, according to the government’s website.
Phosphate is primarily used in the manufacture of fertilisers, detergents and other chemicals.
Egypt is also an important gas producer in the Eastern Mediterranean. However, its production has declined in recent years, despite discoveries such as the Zohr gasfield.
The country is showing signs of “robust growth”, driven by non-oil manufacturing, transport, finance and tourism, according to a recent report from the International Monetary Fund.
Its economy grew 4.4 per cent in the 2024-25, from 2.4 per cent the previous fiscal year.
Last month, the IMF said it had reached a staff-level agreement with Egypt on long-delayed reviews of its $8 billion loan programme, amid economic reforms.
If approved by the IMF’s executive board, the new disbursement would unlock about $1.2 billion under the main programme and $1.3 billion through the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF), adding to the $3.2 billion Egypt has received.
