Browse Data and Analysis

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

Prospects for marketing year (MY) 2025/26 oilseed crops in Bulgaria are currently positive due to favorable weather and larger planted area. FAS/Sofia estimates the MY 2025/26 rapeseed crop at 240,000 metric tons (MT) and the sunflower crop at 2.0 million metric tons (MMT).

Prospects for winter grain crops in Bulgaria are currently optimistic due to favorable weather and larger planted area.

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.

In 2024, Bulgarian imports from the United States were nearly $100 million, slightly lower than in 2023, but still up over 50 percent since 2019. Imports of U.S. products were driven by several product groups such as U.S. beef, tree and ground nuts, food preparations, whiskies, essential oils, and rubber.

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.

Bulgaria’s fish and seafood imports have grown steadily over the past decade, nearly doubling in value over this period. Bulgarian importers are seeking to expand the variety of fish available to consumers, particularly in the mid and high-value categories.

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.

Egypt is the leading aquaculture producer in Africa, producing approximately two MMT of fish annually. Aquaculture accounts for roughly 80 percent of Egypt’s fish production, primarily via private farms.