Egypt aims to increase its agricultural exports by 10% during 2021-2022

CAIRO - 14 December 2021:  The Agricultural Export Council aims to increase the exports of the agricultural sector by 10 percent  during the 2021/22 export season, according to the head of the council, Abdel Hamid El Demerdash.
 

The council aims to maintain the growth rate achieved by the sector during the last season, in light of the many challenges facing exports and the agricultural sector including the rise in all production requirements by 50 to 80 percent, he added.

This came during his statements on the sidelines of his participation in the Food Africa exhibition, which will be held from 12 to 14 December at the Egypt Convention Center with the participation of more than 400 local and international companies.

El-Demerdash pointed to the rise in sea freight at similar rates, as well as the problem of the unavailability and shortage of containers, which affects the shipping times, which requires work to provide fast and direct shipping boats to the targeted countries, which helps to promote exports of fresh crops.

He pointed out that during the past two seasons, 30 markets were opened in cooperation with the Egyptian agricultural quarantine, and Corona had an impact on the process of exchanging visits with them, explaining that the process of opening markets requires a long time, and the agricultural crops sector is one of the difficult sectors in exporting in light of its connection to many factors such as Pesticide residues, pest control, etc.

Head of the council stressed that the expansion of coding farms is one of the best projects in Egypt, because it will create the beginning of the traceability system for products and increase control, especially since about 4 years ago there was a ban on 5 Egyptian agricultural crops, and the ban was lifted by countries after the coding process.

Regarding the registration of some crops in other countries, he said that there is an increase in the demand for aromatic and medicinal plants, in addition to an increase in the demand for potatoes, as about 100,000 tons of them were exported.

With regard to dates, El-Demerdash pointed out that some exploratory studies have been carried out in some governorates and regions in the New Valley, Siwa and other oases, among the cities that have large areas for productivity, explaining that some initiatives must be made by the Central Bank to help establish and develop this industry, and Work on growing new varieties.

Concerning the expansion in the African market, he said that the African market is exported with the equivalent of 60 and 70 thousand tons, which is an insufficient quantity due to the difficulty of the market and its demand for the current goods, which require the provision of stores for those goods, noting that the focus is on the countries that have ports in the African market and not the landlocked countries .

Egypt's exports of agricultural crops increased by 11.1 percent during the 2020/21 export season that ended last August, to record $2.406 billion, compared to $2.165 billion during the 2019/2020 season, as the volume of exported quantities increased to about 4.241 million tons, compared to 3.954 million tons, a growth of 6.8 percent.