CAIRO - 18 May 2022: Egypt approved Tuesday to exclude spaghetti from the export ban decision No. 141 of 2022, which was issued by the Minister of Trade and Industry Minister, Nevine Gamea, on May 16, 2022.
The Trade Minister explained in a letter sent to the Customs Authority, that the approval came based on the receipt of requests from some companies, with the exception of the spaghetti type of pasta from the provisions of Ministerial Resolution No. 141 of 2022.
Food Export Council expressed its thanks to the Minister of Trade and Industry for responding to the memoranda sent by the Council out of the great potentials owned by Egyptian companies from production capabilities that fully cover the needs of the local market, in addition to the growing export requests.
On March 10, the Official Gazette published the Ministry of Commerce’s decision No. 141 of 2022, banning the export of a number of commodities, namely wheat, flour, gravel, mashed beans, lentils, pasta and flour of all kinds, for a period of 3 months.
The Minister of Trade and Industry had announced the decision to ban exports to meet the needs of the local market, and that there would be no shortage of any of the aforementioned banned goods, especially in light of the repercussions of the war between Russia and Ukraine.
Cereals Industry Chamber Board Deputy, Hussein Boddy, praised the decision of the Egyptian Minister of Trade and Industry, Nevin Gamea, to exclude “spaghetti pasta” from the banning decision.
“We seek to exclude the rest of the pasta varieties because opening the export door will increase the productivity of the pasta factories located in Egypt and thus increase the productivity of the mills operating in the extraction flour 72 (luxury flour),” Boddy added during the Grain Tech 2022 event.
He pointed out that the volume of Egypt's production of pasta is 2 million tons annually, and the state achieved self-sufficiency in pasta, and small quantities are imported, noting that Egypt has pasta factories equipped with the latest technological means in manufacturing and packaging processes, and the total number of pasta-producing factories is about 700.
Boddy said that 22,000 tons of pasta are supplied monthly to the complexes of the Ministry of Supply and Internal Trade at a price of LE 12,000 per ton.
Moreover, Deputy Executive Director at the Egyptian Food Export Council, Tameem El-Dawy, told a local media platform that a number of manufacturers asked the Minister of Trade and Industry to exclude spaghetti pasta during the last period from the decision to ban a number of goods, which the minister announced last March.
El-Dawy added that the increase in the demand for spaghetti pasta by African countries, the increase in the stock of it, and the lack of demand for it in the local market, prompted manufacturers to request an exception of this type of pasta from the export ban decision.
Egypt's exports of pasta witnessed a decline during 2021, to record $75 million, compared to $80 million in 2020, marking a decrease of 6 percent.
Pasta exports to non-Arab African countries increased by about 9 percent in 2021, to record $57 million, compared to $52 million in 2020, and Uganda alone imported more than $6 million annually, and about $18 million to Kenya, and to Madagascar by about $6 million.
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