The sector

The food processing sector comes in advanced ranking among exporting industrial sectors. It is the third largest exporting sector with 13% contribution to total Egypt’s non-oil exports. It is one of the sectors on which Egypt relies to achieve competitiveness in international markets. This is being proved by the remarkable increase in international demand on Egyptian food products, and interest of many countries to import food products from Egypt. The sector recently has also witnessed a remarkable improvement in exports and quality systems besides an obvious variation in export markets.

The sector enjoys many development stimulating factors. It’s one sector which is capable of achieving entire production operations locally, due to raw materials vertical integration, in addition to Egypt’s geographical location and its proximity to global markets. Add to this the many free trade agreements Egypt enjoys, in addition to the climate; availability of agricultural raw materials all year around, as well as low cost workers compared to the Mediterranean Basin countries.

In recent years, the sector has witnessed huge development in terms of investments volume that exceeded EGP500 billion.

In 2017, the Parliament approved the law establishing the National Food Safety Authority (NFSA), which aims to set the regulatory framework for food safety in Egypt. NFSA is an autonomous authority under the Cabinet, with a mandate of protecting consumers’ health through ensuring food products safety inside and outside Egypt as per global food safety standards.

NFSA also strives to raise awareness of food processing companies on food safety fundamentals. It further helps companies apply global food safety requirements in line with the conditions and standards set by food products importing countries.

Sub-sectors

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Imports and Exports (USD - 1M)

The Sector in Figures