MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Egypt becomes one of the main suppliers of garlic to the Brazilian market

Egyptian sales of garlic to Brazil in the first eight months of 2020 exceeded US$ 5 million

Egypt has become one of the main suppliers of garlic to Brazil, with data this year showing that in the first eight months the product sales have already exceeded US$ 5 million, according to SECEX, Brazil's foreign trade secretariat.

The market was opened to Egyptian garlic in July 2019 and that year sales reached US$ 2,3 million.

Egypt has since become Brazil’s fifth largest international garlic supplier, behind traditional suppliers such as Argentina, China, Spain and Chile. In some months of this year, the Egyptians rose to third and second position. Egypt is one of the world’s main garlic producers, in fourth place behind China, India and Bangladesh, and harvests 280,000 tons per year.

According to Michael Gamal Kaddes, Director of Trade Agreements for the Egyptian Ministry of Commerce and Industry’s Agreements and Foreign Trade division, “there are great export opportunities for Egyptian garlic in the Brazilian market.” The garlic harvest in Egypt runs from September to July, and recently, exports from the African country reached 40,000 tons, which generated more than US$ 42 million. Garlic is one of the oldest plants in Egypt.

According to Cesar Simas Teles, agricultural attaché at the Brazilian embassy in Cairo, Brazil imported 165,400 tons of garlic in 2019, worth US$ 225 million, a slight increase over 2018 when the Brazilian market imported 164.8 thousand tons of garlic from abroad, valued at US$ 172 million.