In the 2023/24 season, Egypt achieved a new milestone by setting a record for sweet potato exports to the EU, surpassing the USA in supply volumes, according to EastFruit. This marks a significant achievement for Egyptian exporters in the EU market, as the new export record seemed inevitable by the end of last year.
During the 11 months of the 2023/24 season (July 2023 – May 2024), Egypt exported 109,000 tons of sweet potatoes to the EU, consistently setting monthly records since August last year. Consequently, Egyptian exports to EU countries increased by 45% compared to the previous season, and nearly tenfold compared to the 2018/19 season.
The Netherlands remained the primary market for Egyptian sweet potatoes in the EU, although its share decreased compared to previous seasons. In the 2023/24 season, the Netherlands’ share of Egyptian exports to the EU dropped to 62%, down from the previous range of 70-78%. This shift indicates an increase in direct consumers of Egyptian products. For instance, while the Netherlands increased its imports of Egyptian sweet potatoes by only 29% in the 2023/24 season, Romania and Italy saw increases of 50-60%, and France – of 70%. Furthermore, Slovenia doubled the imports of Egyptian sweet potatoes, Germany almost tripled, and Spain almost quintupled them.
The increase in supplies from Egypt has been the primary driver of sustained demand for imported sweet potatoes in the EU, as the USA, Egypt’s main competitor, has significantly reduced its presence in this market. From July 2023 to May 2024, EU countries imported a record 219,000 tons of sweet potatoes, with Egypt accounting for nearly half of these imports. Meanwhile, the USA has exported only 78,000 tons of sweet potatoes to the EU market, which is more than a third less than the previous season.
It is important to note that the arrival of June trade data in the EU may somewhat narrow the gap between American and Egyptian exports, as June is a month of active imports from the USA. Nevertheless, these data will not fundamentally alter the situation, and it can already be stated that Egypt has surpassed the USA in sweet potato exports to the EU for the first time in history.
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This achievement appears even more extraordinary when considering the structure of sweet potato imports to the EU just a few years earlier, in the 2018/19 season. During that period, the USA exported 86,000 tons of sweet potatoes to the EU, while Egypt exported almost eight times less – around 11,000 tons.
Over the following seasons, conditions for US exporters in the EU market worsened mainly due to increasing competition from Egypt. In 2023-2024, the situation for American suppliers further deteriorated as Egyptian products became even more competitive on the global market due to the rapid devaluation of the Egyptian pound. At the same time, sweet potato production in the USA declined, and farmers switched to other more financially attractive crops. As a result, while 301,000 tons of sweet potatoes were exported from the USA to all destinations in 2018, this figure fell to 254,000 tons by 2023.
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