Egypt is expanding its share of the Chinese market for imported frozen strawberries, reports EastFruit. The Egyptian exports to China from January to November 2023 have already surpassed the total amount of the previous year, making Egypt the top supplier of frozen strawberries to China for the fifth consecutive year.
“Six years ago, China was the world’s fourth-largest exporter of frozen strawberries, and it exported much more than Egypt. But the situation has changed dramatically since then, and last year, Egypt exported several times more frozen strawberries than China. In fact, the import and export volumes of frozen strawberries in China are almost the same now,” says Yevhen Kuzin, Fruit & Vegetable Market Analyst at EastFruit.
“The impressive growth of Egyptian frozen strawberry exports to China shows how well this country has diversified its fruit and vegetable exports, which used to focus on Europe and the Middle East. The next step for Egypt could be to enter the Chinese market with fresh berries. For instance, in Southeast Asia, Egypt has been one of the largest exporters of fresh garden strawberries for several years,” says Yevhen Kuzin.
“Although China hardly imports any fresh strawberries, the potential of the Chinese market is quite promising, as seen in Hong Kong. Hong Kong traders import about 6-7 thousand tons of fresh strawberries every year, and their suppliers include not only China and nearby Japan and South Korea but also the USA, Mexico, the Netherlands, Spain, and even Egypt, though with very small volumes of up to 80-120 tons per year. Exporting fresh strawberries requires different methods of processing, logistics, and marketing than frozen ones, but the prices for the final product are much higher for fresh berries”, Yevhen Kuzin concludes.
For more information: east-fruit.com