Harvest Foods Egypt aims to increase exports by 35% this year by opening new markets. The company's Exports Director, Mohamed Abdel Hamid, said that they achieved exports worth $5.4m last year across 25 countries. He added that the company plans to enter the markets of the United States, Canada, Russia, and Saudi Arabia during the current year. Furthermore, he pointed out that the company is taking advantage of the presence at Gulfood Exhibition during the current session to conclude new export contracts and attempt to solve the problems facing exports. Harvest Foods Egypt is a private joint stock company established in 1998 with an investment of EGP 100m in the Sixth of October Industrial City. Moreover, he explained that the company is participating in the Gulfood Exhibition and aims to open new markets and meet agents in a number of countries in the world. In a different context, Abdel Hamid said that the company lost a number of export markets during the last period because of the high cost due to the rise in prices of raw materials, and the rise of shipping costs, on the back of the rise in fuel price last year. Additionally, he stated that the high cost led to the loss of some export markets such as Yemen, Sudan, and Morocco, due to the presence of the Chinese product at a high quality and lower price. He pointed out that the continued rise in prices of raw materials threatens to increase the prices of the final product during the next period, especially with the price of sesame to EGP 34 per kg and beans to EGP 17. He added that the expected increases in energy prices threaten the loss of some export markets during the coming period due to the increase in the cost.
