Egypt is currently witnessing an increasing demand on its agricultural products, despite coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, said China Global Television Network (CGTN). Due to years of investing to expand cultivation areas and to enhance agricultural products' quality to meet international standards for exportation purposes, the Egyptian agricultural products have seen increasing demand from the international market, said CGTN. Although COVID-19 has led to numerous restrictions with the country's regular consumers, but a new opportunity is now arising. At the beginning of the pandemic, the exportations have seen 10-15% drop, as some restrictions have been imposed by importing countries and some traders due to COVID-19 have stopped shipping. However, once it got sorted out, the exports resume normally, and no Egyptian products have been affected, according to the report. It also indicated that Egypt has exported 2.35m tonnes of fruits and vegetables in 2020's first quarter (1Q), reflecting the same efficiency as in 2019. Oranges have had the lion share of Egypt agriculture exports by about 1.2m tonnes. The report added that for years Egypt has been competing with Spain on the first rank of exporting citruses, but Egypt is now number one. Spain is now importing Egyptian oranges, which has created a new challenge for them, because Egyptian oranges have overshadowed Spain's in price and quality. Meanwhile, potatoes came in the second place on the Egyptian exporting list, by about 550,000 tonnes so far. The report pointed out that Egypt is already taking all preventive measures against COVID-19, noting that Egyptian exporters were already disinfecting their workers daily before the crisis, and the only addition COVID-19 imposed is the face mask.
