Egypt exported more than 100,000 tonnes of grapes this season, according to the head of the Agricultural Export Council (AEC), Abdel-Hamid Demerdash, Egypt Today reported.
He described the export campaign as “very good”, not least due to the new protocol with China, which allows Egyptian grapes to enter the Chinese market for the first time.
In mid-July, the Chinese General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) agreed to open the Chinese market to Egyptian grapes, following two years of negotiations.
Demerdash added that an Egyptian delegation was to visit Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait prior to the start of the new export season, to discuss the ban imposed on some Egyptian agricultural products earlier in the year.
The Egyptian ministries of agriculture and trade issued a collaborative decision in May to initiate an integrated system to organise both the production and export of Egyptian fruit and vegetables.
The aim of the system is to guarantee the safety of exports by ensuring their commitment to technical requirements such pesticide residue limits, which was a major factor in the introduction of the ban on Egyptian products.
