The future of food exports from Egypt: Edita boss Hani Berzi (wearing his hat as chairman of the Food Export Council) and Chamber of Food Industries chief Ashraf El Gazayerli sat down with DMC’s Osama Kamal to discuss how Egypt’s food producers can compete on an international scale. The sector sees EGP 250 bn in recurring investments and a similar amount from the informal sector, El Gazayerli says. More should be done to support exports, Berzi says, asking the government to expand its export tax rebate program, saying “Turkey has over 15 rebate programs.” He says Egypt should be exporting more than the USD 2.7 bn worth of food it currently does — “we could double that.” Berzi also reassured consumers that an increase in exports does not mean that the producers will increase food prices domestically.

One issue Kamal’s panel hammered was the negative role often played by the domestic media in “blowing problems with the food sector out of proportion” without sufficient proof or checks, pointing implicitly to the campaign waged against by Heinz Egypt (and echoing what Berzi said in his interview with us in January). This hurts the image of Egyptian products, he says (watch the full interview, runtime 01:23:00).