Egypt's food exports record $3.5B

CAIRO – 21 February 2021: The Egyptian Export Council for Food Industries announced that the sector’s exports in 2020 reached $ 3.5 billion, the same level as in 2019, despite the circumstances of the Coronavirus pandemic.

The report issued by the Council, Sunday, indicated that exports of food industries rank third in terms of Egypt's non-oil exports, and represent 13 percent during 2020.

On the exports of food industries to the most important international groups during 2020, the report indicated that exports of food industries to Arab countries during 2020 declined to $ 1.865 billion compared to about $ 1.933 billion in 2019, marking a decrease of 3 percent.

Exports to the European Union countries increased by 7 percent to reach $490 million, compared to about $457 million. Food industry exports to non-Arab African countries during 2020 recorded about $386 million, compared to $412 million in the previous year, marking a decrease of 6 percent.

It also retreated to "the United States of America" ​​by 11 percent to record the level of $181 million, compared to $202 million. For the rest of the world, it recorded about $535 million against $456 million, with an increase of 17 percent.

On the top 10 importing countries of Egyptian food industries, the report indicated that about 10 countries accounted for 64 percent of total exports with a value of $2.4 billion, exported by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with a value of $ 308 million, followed by the United States with a value of $ 181 million, and Jordan ranked third at about $ 169 million.

Yemen ranked fourth in terms of importing countries for Egyptian food industries with a value of $ 166 million, followed by Libya with $ 163 million, Algeria with $ 153 million, and the seventh place in the United Arab Emirates with a value of $ 134 million, followed by Iraq with about $ 125 million, then Palestine by about $ 101 million, and Morocco is ranked tenth, with $ 93 million.

On the most important food commodities whose exports rose during 2020, the report indicated that the total increase in exports of 8 food commodities amounted to $ 227 million, representing 66 percent of the total value of the increase in all commodities in 2020.

The report pointed out that exports of various food preparations increased by 43 percent, recording $ 110 million, and exports of "seeds" increased by 25 percent, recording $ 104 million, and exports of "yeasts" reached about $ 88 million, an increase of 50 percent, and exports of "pasta" also increased by about 29percent, registering $ 80 million.