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Despite recent economic headwinds, Egypt’s food ingredient market is experiencing modest growth driven by increasing demand for processed and packaged foods.

While small local grocers dominate the Egyptian retail market, representing more than 50 percent of sales by value, convenience and price will continue to drive the majority of Egyptian consumer buying decisions, presenting growth opportunities across all retail channels.

On March 12, 2025, the Government of Egypt (GoE) filed a ninth addendum to the World Trade Organization (WTO) Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) – G/TBT/N/EGY/313/Add.9 – informing interested parties that it was excluding imports of milk and dairy products from the scope of its Halal certification requirements.

Kenya's dairy sector is one of the most advanced in East Africa, and the second largest in Africa in terms of herd size. The industry remains an important part of the Kenyan agricultural economy, contributing 17 percent to agricultural GDP and 3.8 percent of the total national GDP. The sector is still largely informal, with only 15 percent of total milk processed in 2023.

On September 19, 2024, the Government of Egypt filed an eighth addendum to the World Trade Organization's (WTO’s) Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) -- G/TBT/N/EGY/313/Add.8 -- informing interested parties that the time period during which imported milk and dairy products that are not accompanied by a Halal certificate will be permitted to enter Egypt has been extended until December 31, 2025.

Against the backdrop of a series of global shocks, regional conflict, and the war in Ukraine, the Egyptian economy slowed down in 2024 and is projected to recover gradually in the coming years.

The Kenyan dairy and beef sectors are important drivers of the country’s economic growth, yet both sectors are unable to meet domestic demand. The challenges facing Kenya’s dairy and beef sectors present opportunities for U.S. technical capacity building in research, knowledge, and technology transfer.

In late May 2024, the Egyptian Government announced its intention to increase the price of subsidized bread (from 5 piasters {$.001} per loaf to 20 piasters {$.004} per loaf) as of June 1, 2024 -- marking the first increase in the price of subsidized bread in Egypt in 36 years.

On August 8, 2023, the Government of Egypt filed a sixth addendum to the World Trade Organization's (WTO’s) Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) -- G/TBT/N/EGY/313/Add.6 -- extending the requirement for halal certification for imported milk and dairy products until December 31, 2023.

On June 16, 2023, Egypt notified the World Trade Organization (WTO) of a new halal requirement and procedure for food products via a Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) addendum notification.

The 2022 U.S. Agricultural Export Yearbook provides a statistical summary of U.S. agricultural commodity exports to the world during the 2022 calendar year.

The government of Egypt has yet to publish or notify an official statement regarding the application of halal certification on dairy past the April 1 deadline. However, the industry reports that another extension from fees has been granted for as much as a year.