"Time for Apples from Europe" Campaign holds a press conference to raise awareness of the benefits of apples produced in European Union’s countries at the 7th edition of Food Africa 2022 trade fairs

Cairo – 5 December 2022: The “Time for Apples from Europe” campaign, implemented by the Association of Polish Fruit Growers with co-financing from the European Union, will hold today, Monday, a press conference to raise awareness of the advantages of European apples of high quality, freshness and unique taste, in addition to its high production standards followed in the European Union countries, thus increasing its exports to both the Egyptian and Jordanian markets.

 

The Egyptian market is at the top of the list of priorities of the European Union in terms of increasing exports and expansion plans in the African continent, as the volume of European Union exports to Egypt of apples last year exceeded more than170 million euros. Also, Egypt is the largest importer of apples from Poland, and European exporters constitute more than half of Egypt's imports in terms of value. Last year, Poland exported apples to Egypt with a value of 36.3% of the total imports of this fruit, followed by Italy with a value of 24%, and Greece with a value of 14%.

Polish traders aim to benefit from the EU-Egypt free trade agreement signed in the field of agriculture, in force since 2004, under which EU exports benefit from duty-free access to the Egyptian market for almost all agricultural products. Hence, the European Union exported a total of 308,821,271 kg of apples to Egypt in 2021 and a total of 237,089,025 in 2020, and this remarkable increase reflects the growing interest of the Egyptian importer in European apples. Poland specifically exported 154,169,170 tons of apples to Egypt in 2021.

 

The campaign held a press conference on the sidelines of its distinguished participation in the 7th edition of the Food Africa exhibition, through which it aims to increase its visibility in the Egyptian market and to introduce Egyptian importers and distributors of vegetables and fruits to European traders and exporters, in addition to tasting European apples and introducing them to its many advantages personally, and where the President of the Association of Polish Fruit Growers, Mr. Miroslaw Maliszewski, talked about the offers and facilities provided by the European Union to facilitate trade exchange between Egyptian and Polish companies, in addition to the potential of producing European apples in the European Union countries, especially in Poland, and the standards for quality control, production, and sale by adhering to the principles of respect for the environment and the Green Deal.

 

Polish fruit farmers are also committed to high production standards, to ensure environmentally friendly crops and maintain Egyptian importers’ confidence. European Union marketing standards set quality, size, tolerance, presentation, and fruit marketing requirements. This happens through the sustainable use of technological achievements, aiming to preserve biodiversity and protect the agricultural landscape.

 

Apple farmers in Poland have recently faced difficulty in having their products reach the Egyptian market due to the supply chain crisis that resulted from the Corona pandemic. Therefore, Polish exporters have developed a plan to increase the volume of their apple exports to Egypt next year, through several activities, including participation in the Food Africa exhibition, which is the largest food and beverage exhibition in Africa and the Middle East region, in addition to holding this press conference to increase the awareness of importers and the Egyptian public about the taste of European apples and the advantages of importing them from the European Union. There will also be cooking shows with the participation of well- known Egyptian chefs and bilateral business meetings between major European export companies and Egyptian importers.

 

It is worth noting that the "Time for Apples from Europe" campaign is a continuation of the Association of Polish Fruit Growers project, which was previously implemented between 2017- 2019 also in Egypt. The campaign promotes the nutritional value and high quality of different types of fresh European apples. Also, it aims to raise awareness of the Egyptian consumers of the benefits of using integrated & organic crop production of the European Union.