Browse Data and Analysis

In market year (MY) 2025/2026, FAS Bogota (Post) forecasts Colombia’s sugar production to recover to 2.3 million metric tons (MMT) due to improved weather conditions from the weakening of the La Niña phenomenon and expected normal weather patterns, positively impacting sugarcane yields and sucrose content.

FAS/Cairo (Post) forecasts Egypt’s soybean imports in marketing year (MY) 2025/26 (October – September) to increase by 5.0 percent from the previous marketing driven by a flexible exchange rate, the availability of forex and a more positive outlook for the livestock sectors.

While small local grocers dominate the Egyptian retail market, representing more than 50 percent of sales by value, convenience and price will continue to drive the majority of Egyptian consumer buying decisions, presenting growth opportunities across all retail channels.

On March 5, 2025, Colombia's National Institute for the Surveillance of Food and Medicines (INVIMA) confirmed that starch is approved by the Colombian government as an additive for use as a thickener and stabilizer agent in fresh cheese.

The United States remains the top international supplier to Colombia's food ingredients sector.

Post forecasts Egypt’s MY 2025/26 cotton production at 320,000 bales, down 25 percent from the previous season due to a significant decrease in area harvested.

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.

Anyone exporting food or feed products to Colombia should note that since March 2025, Colombian quarantine officials have stopped allowing updates to many details on import permits and are no longer allowing any changes after the products have left port.

Colombia’s economic recovery together with growing domestic livestock and poultry production are driving Colombia’s corn demand. With the rapid development of poultry and egg production in particular, corn consumption is projected to increase in market year (MY) 2025/2026 to support strengthening demand from the animal feed sector.

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 2024, U.S. agricultural exports to Colombia reached a record high of $4.5 billion, a 21 percent increase from 2023. This growth, supported by the U.S.-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement, represented the highest rate among the top 25 U.S. agricultural export markets globally.