CAIRO - 3 December 2024: The 9th edition of the Food Africa, Fresh Africa, and Pac Process exhibitions opened at the Egypt International Exhibitions Center on December 3, 2024, running through December 5. Spanning 45,000 square meters, the event features 1,018 companies from 39 countries, including Germany, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, India, Poland, and Russia, with Turkey honored as the guest country.
The exhibitions focus on food industries, agricultural products, dates, packaging, and food processing machinery, under the auspices of Egypt’s Ministries of Investment and Foreign Trade, Industry, and Supply.
Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade, Hassan El-Khatib, highlighted that the exhibitions reflect Egypt’s commitment to boosting its export sectors. He noted that Egypt's food industry exports reached $4.6 billion by the end of September 2024, marking an 18% increase from $3.9 billion during the same period in 2023. Arab countries are the largest importers of Egyptian food products, followed by the European Union, non-Arab African countries, and the United States.
Key importing nations include Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Palestine, Libya, the Netherlands, Jordan, Morocco, and Spain. The main exported products during this period were beverage concentrates, flour, frozen strawberries, sugar, juices, cooking oils, biscuits, grains, frozen vegetables, table olives, and frozen potatoes.
El-Khatib emphasized the need to increase agricultural exports to African markets, which currently account for just 2% of Egypt’s total agricultural exports. In the 2023/2024 season, agricultural exports to Africa reached 125,000 tons valued at $80 million. Agricultural exports are crucial to Egypt’s trade, with a total of 7.1 million tons worth $4.1 billion exported in the first ten months of 2024. Citrus fruits led the way, with 2.3 million tons exported, establishing Egypt as the world’s top orange exporter.
The minister announced strategic initiatives to enhance agricultural exports, including the European Union’s decision to reduce pesticide residue checks on Egyptian citrus and a joint ministerial decision between the Ministries of Investment and Agriculture to establish a comprehensive system for the production, inspection, and export of high-quality Egyptian potatoes, in line with international standards.
He also celebrated the launch of the “Ro-Ro” maritime transport line for perishable goods between Egypt’s Damietta Port and Italy’s Trieste Port. This new line, operating weekly with an initial capacity of 70 refrigerated and 70 dry trucks, offers competitive advantages for Egyptian exports to Europe.
This launch is part of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi’s vision to transform Egypt into a regional logistics and transit trade hub, while also opening new markets for Egyptian agricultural exports to Europe, in alignment with the broader national export strategy.
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