Egypt’s Al-Bustaniya aims to increase exports
CAIRO, February 4, 2016
Egypt’s Al-Bustaniya Agricultural Development plans to invest EGP25 million ($3.19 million) to support development of the company and increase exports by 20 per cent for the current season, a report said.
The exports of vegetables and paper products amounted to 9,000 tonnes last year, and were mainly to the European and Asian markets, Hisham El-Meligy, chairman of Al-Bustaniya, was quoted as saying in a Daily News Egypt report.
He said that the Agriculture Export Council received a list of fruit and vegetable varieties, which Turkey used to export to Russia.
The council is studying varieties suggested for import from Egypt instead.
This comes against the backdrop of Moscow’s decision to ban exports from Turkey after the latter shot down a Russian warplane on its border with Syria in November, said the report.
Meligy noted that Egypt cannot export all of the items Russia used to receive from Turkey, especially since certain agricultural crops require specific transport conditions, particularly highly-perishable crops.
He added that Egypt is currently considering the possibility of cultivating a tomato variety that can endure 12 days in transit in preparation to export the tomatoes to Russia.
He said that Turkey’s close proximity to Russia was one of the most important reasons Moscow depended on Ankara’s products before the most recent bout of political tension.
Meligy further said that Al-Bustaniya seeks to increase the volume of production per acre of strawberry crops, especially as Egypt is distinguished for its strawberry exports.
Agricultural crops differ from other export commodities in that it is important to ensure that markets are available to absorb production, he said.
Crops cultivated for export have certain specifications that pertain to the circumstances of the markets they are exported to, he concluded.