El Rabie Group Managing Director Hatem Fawzy said that the company achieved sales of EGP 60m at the end of 2017, up by EGP 12m from 2016, and aims to boost its sales to EGP 70m this year. He pointed out that the company's profits fell by about 40% last year, despite the increased sales volume, due to the high cost of production and packaging materials following the floatation of the pound. The company halved production because of the high cost of raw materials and the low purchasing power of consumers. Fawzy said that El Rabie Group aims to enter three new markets: France, Italy, and the US, bringing the number of countries importing its products to 17. He added that the company is also expanding in Arab markets, especially Saudi Arabia, aside from the other countries and markets, including Palestine, Oman, Libya, Kuwait, Kenya, Somalia, Guinea, and Ethiopia. He explained that the company seeks to increase its exports by 10-15% annually, where exports currently account for 25% of the company's production. He also called for government attention to support participation in foreign exhibitions, being the window for companies to increase exports and bring back hard cash to the state, next to signing protocols to support transportation and logistics in target markets to help companies expand. El Rabie Group invested EGP 22m last year to establish a new juice factory on an area of 3,500 sqm, in addition to its four existing plants. Fawzy revealed that the new plant is due to open and operate as of next March, with an initial production capacity of 2,000 cartons per month. El Rabie Group was founded over 20 years ago as an Egyptian joint stock company. It is considered one of the largest companies in the manufacture of food products. It started producing halva and tahini in 1989. The company opened a juice production plant in 2000 then expanded geographically through several branches and storage houses in Cairo and other governorates. The company owns more than 26 branches across Egypt, along with a large fleet for distribution and supply.
