Sudan scraps import ban on 44 goods, zeroes duties on eight food staples

Egyptian food manufacturers can now expand deeper into Sudan’s food markets, as Sudan has lifted import bans and scrapped customs tariffs and taxes on select food commodities and industrial production inputs, according to a circular (pdf) from the Egyptian Commercial Service. Duties and taxes are gone from staple foods including flour, lentils, rice, and beans, and an import ban was lifted on 44 of the 46 foods Sudan had banned earlier this year, from processed goods to consumer goods.

Why it matters: Sudan is undoing a ban it imposed six months ago. Its April decision blocked 46 imports it designated “luxury” to defend its currency. Egypt is already Sudan’s largest supplier, with exports of USD 867 mn in 1H 2026, but USD 512 mn of that was petroleum products, according to Food Industries Export Council figures cited by Shorouk News.

A clean bill

Export finance and export inspection will run on one track: The Export Development Bank (EBank) signed an MoU with the General Organization for Export and Import Control (GOEIC) to link the bank’s finance and advisory work for exporters to the authority’s testing, certification, and conformity system — the checks exporters need to pass before goods can leave Egypt, according to a statement (pdf) from the bank. EBank pitched it as facilitating the exporter’s journey and as a route into African markets under the African Continental Freetrade Area. No financing volume, product, or timeline was announced.

IN CONTEXT- The cooperation builds on a compliance layer GOEIC already controls: a February decree requires exporters to file carbon emissions reports with the authority before it grants prior approval to export, feeding a national emissions database aimed at keeping Egyptian goods within the EU’s CBAM regime.

Dose of capital

The Cabinet approved capital increases for two Holdipharma subsidiaries, the Cabinet said in a statement. Memphis Pharma and Chemical Industries will raise its issued and paid-in capital to EGP 700 mn from EGP 227.5 mn — part in banknotes and part by capitalizing credit balances owed to the parent to fund its share of the increase. Nile for Medicine and Chemical Industry will double its capital to EGP 1 bn from EGP 500 mn in banknotes. Both decisions came through the cabinet’s state-owned companies unit.

REFRESHER- Both stocks ran hard in the pharma rally in August: Nile rose 156% and Memphis gained 63% between early July and 11 August, part of a broader move across the sector that also lifted industry giants GSK and Rameda.