Browse Data and Analysis

In a budget bill passed on June 13, 2025, the semi-autonomous Zanzibar government raised the excise duty on imported frozen chicken from approximately USD $0.12 per kilogram to approximately USD $0.39 per kilogram, with a double aim to protect the domestic poultry industry and generate USD $2.75 million in revenue.

Zanzibar presents strong potential for U.S. food and beverage exports, driven by tourism, urbanization, and demand for quality products. With over 80 percent of food imported, key opportunities include beverages, wheat, poultry, oil, confectioneries, and rice.

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

Tanzania retail food industry is experiencing robust growth, driven by rapid urbanization, an expanding middle class (22 percent of households), rising disposable incomes, and a thriving tourism sector that welcomed 5 million visitors in 2024.

Despite market volatility, and unstable policies, the European Union remains the largest importer of Tanzanian green coffee beans, buying six times as many beans as the United States.

FAS Cairo (Post) forecasts Egyptian sugar production in marketing year (MY) 2025/26 (October-September) to rise to 3.18 million metric tons (MMT). This increase is driven by industrial demand and higher prices for sugar beets, incentivizing many farmers to plant more beets.

FAS/Cairo (Post) forecasts Egypt’s soybean imports in marketing year (MY) 2025/26 (October – September) to increase by 5.0 percent from the previous marketing driven by a flexible exchange rate, the availability of forex and a more positive outlook for the livestock sectors.

FAS Dar es Salaam expects a ten percent decline in corn exports for marketing year (MY) 2025/26 as production decreases and strict export permit procedures continue to stymie shipments.

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.

Post forecasts Egypt’s MY 2025/26 cotton production at 320,000 bales, down 25 percent from the previous season due to a significant decrease in area harvested.

Egypt’s wheat imports for marketing year 2025/26 are estimated at 13.0 million metric tons, unchanged from Post’s estimate in the previous marketing year which was revised upward by 4 percent due to the availability of forex contributing to an increase in imports.

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.