Prices for Egyptian garlic, the season of which has just started, continue to rise, due to lower volumes, high demand and the appreciation of the local currency.
Mina Anthony, CEO of E2M: “Garlic prices are much higher than last season and continue to rise, mainly because the area under cultivation has decreased drastically. Many garlic growers have preferred to grow onions this season. The huge global and local demand onions has at least tripled their price.”
Lower supply is confronted with strong demand. “Demand is very strong this season, mainly from countries such as Canada, the US, Australia and Brazil. Taiwan is a little slower this season as they expected low prices from Egypt.”
“Another factor contributing to the higher prices is the appreciation of the Egyptian pound against the dollar,” says Anthony. After a long and sharp depreciation, the EGP is gaining value. From 70 EGP for 1 USD at the beginning of the year (parallel black market rate, which is more representative of the market than the official rate), 1 USD is exchanged today for 48 EGP.
“The average price has increased from USD 1.1/kg for fresh garlic at the beginning of last season to USD 1.6 today, an increase of 45%. Prices will be higher for dry garlic later in the season as garlic is the loses half its weight. For all these reasons, prices are only expected to rise rather than fall for the remainder of the season,” Anthony concludes.
E2M for Import/Export and Commercial Agencies in Cairo is known as one of the fastest growing companies in Egypt, specializing in the export of fresh agricultural and horticultural products from all over the country.
For more information:
Mina Anthony
E2M
Tel: +201271227787
[email protected]
www.e2m-eg.com
