Updated February 2004
Chemical Imports

Imports by Date
| Year/Date | Exporter | Item(s) | Remarks |
| Circa 1973 | Syria | chemical weapons | Egypt is suspected of supplying Syria with CW agents shortly before the 1973 war with Israel. |
| 1976 | The Soviet Union | chemical weapons material, technology, or advice | US intelligence claims that the Soviet Union supplied Egypt, among other countries, with CW-related material. It is also alleged that Egypt received Soviet CW indoctrination and training in the 1960s. |
| 1986 | The United Kingdom | 26 tons of hydrogen fluoride | The United Kingdom allowed the sale of 26 tons of hydrogen fluoride to Egypt, which is later believed to have been diverted outside Egyptian borders to assist in the Iraqi CW program. |
| Reported in 1989 | West German Companies | Assistance | Israeli experts believe West German companies assisted Egypt in developing its CW program. |
| Mid-1980s | Switzerland | Parts to a chemical plant, suspected of producing CW agents | Swiss Company Krebs A.G. supplied Egypt with materials to build a plant that produces a dual-use chemical used in nerve agent production. Krebs acquired designs for the plant from Stauffer Chemicals, an US company. |
| 1989 | India | hundreds of tons of chemicals | India apparently sold several hundred tons of dual use chemicals, including thionyl chloride (used in mustard production). |
| 1990 | Saudi Arabia | Expertise | Saudi Arabia requests and receives military expertise from Egypt to prepare for a potential CBRN threat from Iraq. |
| 1998 | Kuwait | 48-50,000 gas masks | Masks were ordered by the Kuwaiti civil defense agencies. |
Complete citations and further details are available in the chemical chronology within this country profile.
![]()
This
material is produced independently for NTI by the James Martin Center for
Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies and
does not necessarily reflect the opinions of and has not been independently
verified by NTI or its directors, officers, employees, agents. Copyright © 2008
by MIIS.
![]()





