According to Tameem El-Dawy, deputy executive director of the Egyptian Food Export Council, the Egyptian food industry's exports to China increased by 21 percent in 2020 to about $36 million. El Dawy said that between 2014 and 2020, the industry’s exports to the Chinese market recorded a growth of 836 percent.
He also noted that 10 food products accounted for around 98% of Egypt's total food exports to the Chinese market, worth $35.9 million in 2020. One of these exports is frozen strawberries, and Egypt is currently the leading exporter of frozen strawberries.
“There are some products in the food products imported by China that are substitutes for Egyptian exports, with a value of $20 billion in 2019,” El Dawy said. “China is the world’s second-largest importer of all commodities. Valued at $2 trillion, which accounted for 10.8 percent of total global imports in 2019, which totaled $90 billion from the food industry.”
Fruits account for the vast majority of Egypt's food exports to China. In 2020, China imported $110 million of Egyptian fruit, of which $96 million was fresh oranges, $13 million was frozen strawberries, and about $500,000 was fresh grapes. He pointed out that Egypt's fruit exports to China in 2020 increased by 423.8% compared to 2015.