Egypt has halted the export of potatoes to Russia and Europe due to health standards

The Ministry of Trade and Industry decided to stop the export of potatoes from four Egyptian companies to the European Union, the United Kingdom, and Russia until the end of the current agricultural season.

The Minister of Trade and Industry, Ahmed Samir, announced that this decision came in response to the requests of importing countries that request potatoes from areas free of brown rot, which is a plant disease that affects the quality of production.

For his part, the head of the General Syndicate of Farmers in Egypt, Hussein Abdel Rahman Abu Saddam, revealed that the decrease in exports to Russia came as a result of the rise in local prices, which encouraged merchants to stock up in the hope of achieving higher profits.

This suspension comes at a time when Russian markets are witnessing a shortage of potato supplies, which has led to an increase in their prices locally.

The Executive Director of the Potato Producers Union, Alexei Krasilnikov, explained that Egypt, which used to export between 300 and 500 thousand tons annually during May and June, has significantly reduced supplies to the Russian market this year.

It is noteworthy that Egypt accounts for a third of African agricultural exports to Russia and achieved remarkable growth in the 2023 season. In the 2020/2021 season, Russia imported about 657 thousand tons of Egyptian agricultural crops worth $307 million, and in the 2021/2022 season the value of exports reached about 415 million. Dollars, exporting 794 thousand tons.

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