Egypt’s food exports to Kenya seen a leap in growth by 111% in 7 years

Egypt’s food industry exports to Kenya recorded a significant growth of 111 percent between 2014 and 2020, according to Tameem El-Dawy, Deputy Executive Director at the Egyptian Food Export Council (FEC).

In the seven-year period, these food industry exports were worth a total value of about $419m, El-Dawy added.

El-Dawy added that food industry exports to Kenya recorded about $34m in 2014, growing  1 percent during 2015 to record $35 million.

The exports grew by 49 percent in 2016 to reach $51m, with Egypt’s food exports to Kenya increasing by 16 percent in 2017 to record $60m. These then grew by 30 percent in 2018 to record $77m, then by 15 percent to record $89m in 2019.

Due to the current circumstances caused by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the sector’s exports to Kenya have experienced a decline of 18 percent to register $73m in 2020, he added.

Meanwhile, El-Dawy noted that 15 commodities acquired 96 percent of the total food industry exports to Kenya in 2020, valued at $70 million.

He also noted that sugar and glucose accounted for 32 percent of the exports of food industries to Kenya last year, with a value worth $23m, followed by pasta accounting for 16 percent with a total value of $12m, and yeasts with a value of $7 million and 10 percent of the total value of the sector’s exports to the Kenyan market.

Egypt exported starch worth $6m to Kenya in 2020, prepared animal food worth $4m, oils except olive oil worth $3m, biscuits and grain preparations  worth $3m, and chocolate, cocoa and preparations, tomato sauce, tomato concentrates with a value of $2m for each, he added.