According to Cairo officials, Egypt has become the world’s largest exporter of oranges by volume, surpassing rivals Spain and South Africa.
Egypt exported almost 1.8 million tonnes of oranges in 2019, landing in first position just ahead of Spain, according to the International Trade Centre, a joint agency of the World Trade Organization and the United Nations. Revenue from exports was around $660 million. Due to COVID disruptions earlier this year, the volumes exported will be less than those of 2019.
“Global orange consumption has grown and Egypt has been able to capture the increase in the market,” Mohamed Abdel Hady, an orange grower and exporter who heads the Citrus Committee at the Agricultural Export Council, a business association, told usa-vision.com. “Egypt has the advantage of a cheap currency which means our prices are competitive. Oranges have made a jump in income for farmers so they are planting more.”
Tom Leenheer, commercial director at Van Ooijen Citrus, a Dutch fruit and vegetable wholesalers, says in recent years he has been “seeing more and more Egyptian oranges on the market. The price/quality [equation] is good.” It is also noticeable, he adds, that increasing numbers of Egyptian growers were starting their own companies in Holland to trade in orange imports from Egypt.
