Egypt’s agricultural investments are showing positive results, as exports in Q1 of 2024 reached $1.5 billion. The value represents $300 million more than last year. 

The information was announced by El-Sayed El-Quseir, Egypt’s Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation, who said the volume of Egyptian agricultural exports exceeded 2.218 million tons in Q1 2024, Zawya reports.

The surge, he said, was driven by the opening of 95 new markets over the past 10 years and the exporting of more than 400 agricultural commodities to 160 countries.

According to the report, the main agricultural exports from Egypt are citrus, potatoes, sweet potatoes, pomegranates, garlic, strawberries, beans, guavas, and tomatoes. In 2022, oranges were Egypt’s top export by volume, at 1.6 million metric tons, and by value, at $635.8 million, according to FAOSTAT.

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In December 2023, the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) in Cairo forecasted that for the marketing year 2023/24, Egypt’s fresh orange exports would reach 2.0 million metric tons, up 25% from 2022/23. 

The report said, it “attributes this increase to higher yields per hectare, amid favorable environmental conditions, success in opening new markets for Egyptian oranges, and a successful traceability system in registering and monitoring farm production.”

Zawya reports that citrus topped the list of agricultural exports with 1.199 million tons from January to March, followed by fresh potato exports with 387,603 tons. Beans ranked third with 54,110 tons of exports.

During the past couple of years, growers’ preference to cultivate oranges over other fruits has been driven by increasing demand for Egyptian oranges in international markets and joint government and private sector efforts in opening new markets, mainly in Southeast Asia, the USDA says.

Markets for Egypt's ag exports 

Egypt’s main destination market for oranges is the Netherlands. Last year, exports to the destination amounted to 88,989 metric tons, increasing due to a decline in Moroccan orange exports and a poor harvest in Spain.

According to the USDA’s Egypt annual report, most orange exporters are producers who own packing facilities approved for export by the government. They also buy from local farmers if their production is insufficient to meet their export obligations. 

Other exporters own packing facilities but do not produce oranges, and thus rely on local farmers. In these cases, the exporters are responsible for transporting the crop to their packing facilities.