Opening South America for Egyptian strawberry and grape exports: The Agricultural Quarantine Authority is in talks with its Brazilian counterpart to pave the way for sales of Egyptian grapes and strawberries the South American market starting next season, sources tell Al Borsa. The authority is currently preparing samples of grapes and strawberries to send to Brazil for inspection. The Agriculture Ministry recently formed a committee to amend agriculture quarantine regulations after several countries imposed bans on Egyptian produce, including strawberries.

In tandem, food manufacturers are pushing exports at the Gulf Food expo: Food producers are jockeying for position in export markets as they look to capitalize on Egypt’s newfound cost competitiveness post the float of the EGP. Among them are instant coffee maker Misr Cafe, which plans to take advantage of the Mercosur freetrade agreement to push up its exports 10%, according to Al Borsa. MRM Group for Agricultural Crops is also looking to increase its exports more than 40% by tapping into new European markets, while Egy Dairy is relying on increasing its presence in Saudi Arabia and Sudan. The Egyptian European Company for Food Products is eyeing expansion in Europe and Africa and also plans to add two new production lines to its 10 Ramadan City factory, the newspaper reports. Federation of Egyptian Industries’ food industries division head Ashraf El Gazayerli had said higher exports would play an important role in allowing the sector to grow 8-10% this year, as we noted yesterday.