Industrial pattern, structure and concentration in the United Arab Republic

Abstract

In 1956, 1959 and 1963 the Egyptian Ministry of Industries produced a series of highly informative industrial directories, which they printed and distributed under the title of Dalil Wi 'ISana'at, or literally.Guide to Industries. These guides or directories were not intended to be published in a formal sense, and their names have never appeared on the official lists of government publications that may be purchased in Egypt. Nevertheless, though packed with information which in other states might be regarded as confidential or even secret, copies of the Guide are, or at least were once, fairly readily available in official circles in Cairo: a copy of the latest edition was in late 1964 given to the writer by an official of the Ministry of Industries, and it forms the basis of the following analysis of industrial structure in Egypt. The Guide, as it will henceforward be called, consists of a list of 4,862 factories that were operating in Egypt in the early part of 1963. Ostensibly all factories are listed if they employ 5 or more workers, but there is reason to believe that the data for factories with less than 10 workers are unreliable. In consequence only those with 10 workers or more have been considered in the following analysis, thus reducing the total to 3,285. The entries are set out in the Guide in the form of five main chapters, which for purpose of analysis have been expanded to the following six 'Major Industrial Groups':