Status of Egyptian Garlic Exports to Brazil in 2022

The first Egyptian garlic exports to Brazil arrived on August 2019 after the phytosanitary agreement was set. Due to the tax benefits gained by the agreement between Egypt and Mercosur, garlic importers in Brazil imported a significant amount of Egyptian garlic. However, since the first garlic exports to Brazil, Egyptian garlic have built a bad reputation due to the following reasons:

1. Dirt residues (cleaning was not done correctly) and no leaves were cleaned (brushed garlic head).
2. Garlic head bulb was too long (4cm+ in length).
3. Lack of calibration resulted in 40mm to 70+mm garlic in the same box.
4. Garlic arrived with sprouting, and in some cases with rot.

The points above have led to a bad reputation, leading to drops in Egyptian garlic imports from 4,890 MT in 2020 to 984 MT in 2021, and to 0 MT in 2022.