Egypt Dates Market - Growth Trends and Forecast (2019 - 2024)

Egypt Dates Market – Overview

Egypt produced 1,632,661 metric ton of dates in 2018, which is projected to register a CAGR of 4.8% during the forecast period. Egypt is the most productive country of date fruit in the world. There is a high potential for increasing the production area of date palm to fulfill local consumption in the whole country and to produce date fruits for export purposes. Presently, the Egyptian Government and private sector are convinced of the potential of date production and are striving to establish commercial date plantations and promote viable date production.

The rising consumption of dates and its incorporation in the commercial processing industry is likely to drive the market towards growth. Moreover, strategic policies made by the agricultural associations and the government coupled with technological advancements will further strengthen the Egypt’s position in the international dates market.

With high self-sufficiency ratio, Egypt possesses to substantiate its in-house demand for date fruit since ages. However, the international trade procedures in terms of exports are yet to achieve its potential.

By contrast, an abundance of capable manpower and arable land, low labor costs as well as the wide range of date palm diversity are among the most important competitive factors. The major traders engaged in the dates business across the country are Arabdates, Oliver Egypt Export, El Salam Co. , Fruit Link, GreenDiamond.CO, Ganet Elzohor Co. and others.

Scope of the Report

The report on the Egypt dates market (henceforth, referred to as the market studied) offers key insights into the latest market developments. For the purpose of the report, raw or fresh dates has been considered. The research report provides and in-depth qualitative analysis on production, consumption.

Key Market Trends

Improved Government Measures Towards Palm Date Cultivation

There has been consistent focus from the government to increase the palm tree plantation with new varieties across the country to meet the international demands, as a part of country’s strategic step towards the development of the date industry. To combat the palm affecting pests and diseases, government with the help of United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) laid foundation for the first palm date cluster which helped El-Edwa’s date farmers tackle the infestation of red palm weevils, a pest with devastating effects on palm tree health and date production.

The Ministry of Agriculture is promoting community ownership of date palms through awareness and strengthening of planning and management committees by providing leadership skills training. Likewise, education centers are established to train the beneficiaries who obtain loans and produce at home, especially women.

In 2017, technical program initiated by Egyptian Ministries of Agriculture was launched to develop the date value chain in Egypt, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations launched a training program for date producers in Siwa, Al Wahat Al Bahria, and Al Wadi al-Jadid. The agricultural authorities are also working on providing the post-harvest facilities to the stakeholders and taking measures to improve the trade procedures for Egypt’s contribution towards International Market of Dates.

Egypt- The Largest Date Producing Countries in World

Egypt holds the first place among the top date producing countries worldwide. It has a good potential of producing semi dry varieties (especially Sewi and the variety “Medjool”) suitable for export in the international market. Date palm cultivation in Egypt is gaining importance, due to its potential role in enhancing food/nutrition security and the increased level of income in the rural areas.

Despite being the leading producer, it does not play an influential role in the global trade of the fruit. This is because the date palm sector in Egypt faces several problems, like low fruit quality, diseases and pathogen pests (particularly red palm weevil), the weakness of marketing services, and neglect of farmers in achieving efficient postharvest processes. Contrary to this, the improvements in the date palm industry are being done by the government. The government is focusing on developing a value chain for dates in Egypt, in order to facilitate a rational use of water to enhance production (per unit area), as well as help in crop diversification, land reclamation, combating the negative impacts of desertification.

According to the data revealed by the Ministry of Agriculture, Egypt had about 15 million palm trees by the end of 2018. Moreover, the ministry aims to cultivate additional 2.5 million palm trees by using modern agricultural methods in the future, in order to improve the cultivation of dates for the domestic consumption, as well as to improve the trade export.