Browse Data and Analysis

Egypt’s wheat imports for marketing year 2025/26 are estimated at 13.0 million metric tons, unchanged from Post’s estimate in the previous marketing year which was revised upward by 4 percent due to the availability of forex contributing to an increase in imports.

On March 12, 2025, the Government of Egypt (GoE) filed a ninth addendum to the World Trade Organization (WTO) Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) – G/TBT/N/EGY/313/Add.9 – informing interested parties that it was excluding imports of milk and dairy products from the scope of its Halal certification requirements.

Egypt is the leading aquaculture producer in Africa, producing approximately two MMT of fish annually. Aquaculture accounts for roughly 80 percent of Egypt’s fish production, primarily via private farms.

In marketing year (MY) 2023/24, FAS/Cairo forecasts fresh orange exports to reach 2.0 million metric tons (MMT) up from 1.6 MMT in MY 2022/23.

Global events have contributed to the devaluation of the Egyptian pound, high inflation, and a lack of foreign currency. Although Egypt had started to recover its tourism industry and economy after COVID-19, the Russian war in Ukraine contributed to a rise in food prices and a lack of forex.

On December 3, 2023, Egypt’s General Organization of Veterinary Services (GOVS) published an official decree (Decision Number 1 2023) in the Egyptian Gazette for registration procedures for companies providing certifications for halal food.

On December 8, 2023, the Government of Egypt filed a seventh addendum to the World Trade Organization’s (WTO’s) Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) – G/TBT/N/EGY/313/Add.7 – extending the requirement for halal certification for imported milk and dairy products until December 31, 2024. This deadline has been extended several times already.

The planting of GE crops in Egypt is currently not authorized as there is no biosafety legal framework in place. The absence of a legal biosafety framework impedes field trials and commercialization of GE crops.

Egyptian marketing year (MY) 2023/24 wheat imports are estimated at 12.0 million metric tons (MMT), up by 6.9 percent from MY 2022/23 due to lower area and production.

In Egypt, grapes are one of the most widely grown fruit crops, second to citrus. There are many varieties of table grapes produced in Egypt.

Egypt's economy is under pressure due to rising inflation and the impact of Russia's invasion of Ukraine -- Egyptian food prices are rising and U.S. dollars are increasingly hard to access.

On August 6, 2023, the Egyptian Organization for Standardization published the Egyptian standard -- ES: 429/2023 General Requirements on Halal Food According to Islamic Shariya.