Egyptian onions find no takers for export

After a three-month export ban, the Egyptian onion season resumed in April, marking the return of this flagship product to the global market. However, this long-awaited restart is not without challenges for Egyptian producers and exporters, who are facing a complex situation. Last year, Egypt experienced a shortage of onions, which led to skyrocketing prices on the local market. This crisis prompted the government to impose a temporary ban on exports in order to protect domestic consumption. “Onion stocks were so low that prices reached unprecedented levels, forcing the government to intervene,” Mohamad Hassan, Export Manager at Al Gamal, tells Freshpalza. This year, the situation seems to have changed dramatically. Motivated by the high prices of the previous season, many farmers decided to plant onions, leading to an estimated domestic production of over three million tonnes, one million tonnes more than last year. “There seems to be a surplus of production this year,” confirms ...