Trade Ministry launches a plan to boost dates production

CAIRO – 16 November 2017: The Trade Industry had prepared a strategy to develop the industry of dates production, which aims to boost Egypt’s dates exports from 38,000 tons to 120,000 tons during the next five years, in addition to increasing the price per ton to $1,500 from $1,000.

The strategy targets increasing Egypt’s financial gains from the industry from $40 million in 2016 to $180 million after the completion of the strategy by 2021.

It would also make use of dates and palms residues to maximize the added value; especially that Egypt is the largest country producing dates in the world, with a production of 1.4 million tons a year, representing 17.7 percent of the world’s production. The plan further aims to create new jobs.

The strategy includes a plan to execute 16 projects to develop and support the added value chain of dates. The first project was financed by LE 7 million, In addition executing 25 workshops to train 2,000 farmers. Egypt’s trade exports increased by 10 percent in the first half of 2017, from a year earlier. Exports stood at 22,000 tons, amounting to $19.5 million.

On Thursday, the Marsa Matrouh Governorate has decided to offer the state-owned Siwa dates factory to investors on usufruct basis for 10 years, with an Emirati private sector company accepting the offer at an investment of some LE 30 million.

The factory produces various types of dates for the local market and export purposes. It was built at a cost of LE 40 million, while its machinery cost LE 20 million. This comes in tandem with the third Egyptian Date Palm Festival in the Siwa, which kicked off yesterday and will run until November 18.

The festival aims to shed light on the dates’ sector in Egypt and unify efforts of governmental institutions, research centers and international organizations to promote the sector and find solutions to the problems of producers and manufacturers of dates.
The festival is organized by the Trade Ministry's Industry Council for Technology and Innovation in collaboration with the Khalifa International Prize for Date Palm and Agricultural Innovation, under the auspices of President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi.

Other partners include the United Nations Economic Development Organization (UNIDO), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Governorate of Marsa Matrouh. In October, Minister of Trade Tarek Kabil and his Emirati counterpart Mubarak al-Ganainy signed three memoranda of understanding (MoUs) that targets growing, producing and storing dates in several Egyptian governorates.