A delegation of Chinese quarantine officials will visit Egypt on Sunday to inspect date palm farms and date production, opening Chinese date markets to Egypt’s products for the first time.
Egypt’s plans for the palm and date sector include raising exports from 38,000 tons currently to 120,000 tons annually within the next five years, along with increasing date exports to reach US $180 million from the current value of US $40 million.
Head of Egypt’s agricultural quarantine Ahmed al-Attar said that the Chinese delegation is also due to visit grape and citrus farms in order to evaluate them and explain the international requirements for exporting the crops to China.
Attar said that China is a promising market for Egyptian exports in Southeast Asia and that Egypt is pushing for increased agricultural exports there, particularly with citrus fruits, grapes and dates.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation stated that the total quantities of agricultural products exported abroad during from January 1 to August 30 were 3.7 million tons from 12 different export crops.
The Ministry pledged to implement continuous plans to open up various international markets within the coming years.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
