With 917,000 tonnes in horticultural exports to Europe in 2024, Egypt has ranked the biggest non-European vegetable and fruit exporter there.

The mid-January 2025 European Union (EU)’s report, courtesy Cairo Scene, shows growth of 7% for Europe-bound annual horticultural exports.

Overall, Egypt trailed the Netherlands as the top vegetable, tuber and fruit shipper to Europe. The Netherlands is primarily a re-exporter of fresh produce within continental Europe.

Tubers, fruits and green vegetables led exports, with citrus the volume champ with 500,000 tonnes in total shipments.

Next in yearly performance were potatoes at 400,000 tonnes owing to strong demand in Europe where domestic supplies were low. 

Sweet potatoes, especially the popular orange type, emerged third in volume at 117,000 tonnes while onions followed at 94,600 tonnes.

Capitalizing on falling output in Spain and Italy, grape exports ticked up to 58,000 tonnes, competing with supplies from Greece.

The only retrogressive commodity were onions, whose domestic shortage occasioned a 6-month export ban that ended April 2024.

Performances of Europe-bound exports mirror those bound to other worldwide destinations in terms of volume.

According to an August 2024 statement by the government, citrus led total shipments between January and August at 2,077,386 tonnes.

Potatoes followed during the above period at 957,481 tonnes, mostly bound for the Middle East and Europe. 

Interestingly, the January-August 2024 period’s third biggest export were onions at 236,907 tonnes, despite the short term ban.

The uptick export trend continues from 2023 when fruit and vegetable imports from Egypt by the EU improved by double digits. In 2023, Egypt’s EU-destined fruit exports increased by 49% year-on-year while vegetables hiked by 56.6%, per the European Commission.

Egypt therefore seems as adhering to stringent EU rules on origin if it could emerge top non-bloc exporter in 2024. A look at the data below illuminates this lead further through extra insights.

Egypt and EU Agricultural Exports Statistics 

Since 2019, Egypt has been improving its agricultural exports to Europe. While in 2019 all agri-food exports had totaled 1.055 billion Euro, by 2023 they had reached 1.937 billion Euro. This according to the EU Commission’s data.

Which are the fastest growing Egyptian agri-food exports to Europe? 

Lacs and gums have been recording the highest export growth of 355% between 2022 and 2023 despite their low volumes.  Fruits/nuts and vegetables came second and third with 57.6% and 51.5% Europe shipment growth, respectively, between 2022 and 2023. 

Is Egypt the biggest agricultural import destination for Europe? 

Although Egypt is a major supplier of horticulture like citrus and potatoes, it is not Europe’s biggest overall agricultural import source. In 2023 for instance,  Brazil led Europe’s agricultural import destinations with a  9% market share. The UK followed with 8%, with China next with 7% before the U.S.’ 7% while Ukraine finished the top 5 with 5%.

Which horticultural category tops EU imports from Egypt?

Fruits and nuts worth 675 million Euro made up 35% of all agricultural imports to Europe from Egypt in 2023. A year later in 2024, citrus fruits would top this fruit/nut category with  sales touching 500,000 tonnes.