Market Trends of Egypt Cold Chain Logistics Industry
Improving local food products
The Emergency Food Security and Resilience Support Project will finance the public procurement of imported wheat, equivalent to one month of supply for the Bread Subsidy Program, which supports around 70 million low-income Egyptians, including approximately 31 million people under the national poverty line. The project will also support national efforts to reduce waste and loss in the wheat supply chain through the upgrade and expansion of climate-resilient wheat silos, sustainably improve domestic cereal production, and strengthen Egypt’s preparedness and resilience to future shocks. The project incorporates climate change efforts through a variety of interventions, including investments to modernize wheat silos to significantly reduce wheat waste and loss, as well as introducing farmer extension and training programs that promote climate-smart agricultural practices.
In July 2023, Egypt's Ministry of International Cooperation and the Canadian Embassy in Cairo signed a USD 7.57 million grant agreement for food security and climate change efforts in Aswan, Beheira, and Kafr El-Sheikh. The project will be implemented in collaboration with national entities, including the Ministries of Environment, Agriculture, Local Development, and the National Council for Women, as well as the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The project aims to improve the lives of citizens in the most vulnerable rural areas of Egypt by reducing poverty rates and enhancing food security. It will assist them in developing and implementing practices that enable adaptation to climate change, ensuring that the project benefits all those whose work relies on agricultural products and food.
Increase of perishable goods in imports and exports
Egypt produces the most citrus in the world, with 1.8 million tonnes, followed by potatoes (550 thousand tonnes), onions (150 thousand tonnes), and strawberries (20 thousand tonnes), with the season of vegetables and fruits exports seeing a notable rise, despite strict measures on imports.
Egypt increased wheat imports by about 34% from the beginning of 2023 until July 18th, reaching 5.66 million tons, compared to 4.22 million tons in the same period last year, Asharq Business cited an official document.
Egypt imported grains worth USD 221.259 million from Russia in April, according to the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics’ (CAPMAS) Monthly Bulletin of Foreign Trade Data for June 2023.
Egypt's imports of semi-milled or wholly milled rice, whether polished or glazed, recorded 86.96% in 2022, according to the Trademap Index. FAO further forecasted that the volume of Egypt's weighted imports of rice in 2023 will decline to about 300,000 tons from the estimated 600,000 tons for 2022.
In June 2022, Egypt signed a USD 500 million loan agreement with the World Bank in order to help finance its grain imports. Moreover, Egypt is holding talks with the UAE to secure USD 500 million in funding to finance wheat imports, Bloomberg quoted Minister of Supply and Internal Trade Ali El-Moselhi.
Egypt’s imports from China totaled USD 13.2 billion from January to November 2022, up from USD 13.1 billion in the same period in 2021, representing a 0.6 percent increase. According to the official data, trade between Egypt and China increase by 2.6 percent during the first 11 months of 2022, reaching USD 14.9 billion from USD 14.5 billion during the same period in 2021.
