Between a shortage in export support and disruptions in transportation, exporters of agricultural goods are seeing testing times, Ahmed Kotb reports For more than three months, exporters have not been receiving any financial support from the Export Support Fund (ESF). A tight government budget has taken its toll on the fund. Not only was it receiving only LE2 billion, half the sum that was allocated to it in the previous year, but also a shortage of government liquidity left it cash-strapped. Agricultural exporters in particular have felt the brunt of that shortage. Ali Eissa, head of Agriculture Exports Council (AEC), told Al-Ahram Weekly that the ESF has not been disbursing funds. Consequently, he said, exporters of perishable crops -- such as grapes -- are set to lose a fortune. He added that the harvest season for grapes is within a few days and that an export volume of LE1 billion is at stake. Agricultural exports also suffer a host of other problems such as the absence of support for maritime and air transport that is essential to prevent damage to crops, especially perishable crops. Eissa said such problems stand in the way of increasing Egyptian exports of agricultural products and opening new markets. "The competition with other countries is fierce because of their strong support to their products," he said, adding that Egyptian products are of high quality and that with more governmental support they could easily gain a larger share of the international market. Agricultural crops represent around 15 per cent of Egypt's total exports, which amount to LE130 billion. In addition, Eissa said, the repeated closure of some seaports and roads due to protests disrupts the whole process of transporting and shipping perishable agricultural goods. Ahmed Shaker, an exporter of vegetables, lamented that he was not able to export the usual quantities due to the lack of ESF support. He hopes the situation will improve when funds start flowing into the ESF again as promised by Prime Minister Kamal El-Ganzouri. Egypt's interim premier recently announced that the government would inject LE600 million into the ESF to fund it until the end of the current fiscal year. Shaker believes there should be other services through which the government can support exporters of perishable agricultural commodities. "The priority now should be the establishment of special refrigerators inside sea ports, as well as boosting rapid air transportation," Shaker noted. Along the same lines, Eissa suggested that the government buy ferries for rapid transportation. Exports of agricultural commodities fell by 30 per cent in 2011 compared to 2010, according to El-Basha Edris, head of the exporters division at the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce. However, he believes that this is not so bad taking into account the political and economic transformation that Egypt is undergoing. "Egyptian exporters are very active and their ambitions have no limits, but they need the government's support in order to advance," Edris said. "I believe that Egypt's exports will help in overcoming the current economic difficulties," Edris stressed, adding that, "exports are one of the economy's pillars."
