Economy
Manufacturing, finance, and other services
Alexandria’s industrial and commercial activities—manufacturing, shipping, warehousing, banking, food processing, and the production of petrochemicals and cement—indicate the importance of the city’s output for the national economy. Alexandria and its environs account for roughly two-fifths of Egypt’s industrial production. Most industrial development has taken place in the western approaches to the city, around the more modern Western Harbour and along its southern flank; industry is the city’s chief employment sector.
The area around the port known as Mīnāʾ al-Baṣal contains warehouses and was once home to the Cotton Exchange. West across the Al-Maḥmūdiyyah Canal is the Al-Qabbārī neighbourhood, site of the asphalt works and rice and paper mills. Farther to the west is Al-Maks, with its salt and tanning industries, an oil refinery, a cement works, and, farther on, the limestone quarries. Other industrial development has taken place still farther west in Al-Dukhaylah. To the south lies the area of Al-ʿAmiriyyah, the site of two more refineries, including the Middle East Oil Refinery (Midor), which was designed to meet stringent environmental standards. Lighter industry is concentrated on the banks of the Al-Maḥmūdiyyah Canal.
Agriculture is an important economic activity in the hinterland, and land reclamation has been attempted with some success. In one such project implemented near Alexandria, the Egyptian government has aimed to encourage food production and divert job seekers from overcrowded urban areas by offering graduates of universities and other institutes of higher education parcels of reclaimed land, which they are able to purchase using long-term loans.
Europe’s increasing demand for cotton—introduced into Egypt in the 1820s—was by the 1840s contributing substantially to the city’s wealth. As a result, Alexandria became an increasingly important centre for banking and commerce. The Alexandria Stock Exchange, founded in 1883, was followed by the Cairo Stock Exchange in 1903; they eventually linked their operations and continued as the Cairo and Alexandria Stock Exchanges (CASE). Though some banks, such as the Alexandria Commercial and Maritime Bank, are based in Alexandria, a majority of banks—including the Bank of Alexandria—are headquartered in Cairo.