Egypt's agricultural exports to Saudi Arabia reached $350m in 2025

Egypt exported about $350 million of agricultural products to Saudi Arabia in 2025, on volumes of roughly 630,000 tonnes, according to Mohamed Youssef, professor of biological agriculture at the Faculty of Agriculture of Zagazig University, in comments to the Egyptian business outlet Alam Al-Mal. The Saudi market now absorbs around 12% of Egypt's total agricultural exports to all destinations.

Volumes, value and market position

The implied average value of the trade is about $556 per tonne, consistent with a mix dominated by bulk fresh produce rather than premium categories. Youssef said Saudi Arabia is the second-largest international market for Egyptian agricultural crops after Russia, with particular weight in fresh and processed fruit and vegetables. He attributed the standing of Egyptian goods in the kingdom to established product reputation and to the quality of packing and packaging.

Fruit alone accounted for about $180.6 million of Egyptian exports to Saudi Arabia, according to figures Youssef dated to 2026, against Egyptian fruit imports of roughly $11.9 million in the same period. The headline totals he cited for bilateral agricultural trade refer to 2025, so the two sets of figures are not on an identical time base and should not be read as a single year.

The product mix

Egyptian shipments span fresh crops, semi-processed goods and finished food products:

• Fresh produce: grapes, mangoes, potatoes, onions, sweet potatoes, strawberries, beans, garlic and guava, with citrus, potatoes, onions, grapes and mangoes named as the leading crops.
• Dehydrated and frozen lines: dried onion and garlic, frozen strawberries, and frozen fruit and vegetables more broadly.
• Preserved products: pickled and preserved vegetables, jam, juice and beverage concentrates, and fruit concentrates.
• Other categories: fresh and processed medicinal and aromatic crops, pulses, grains and grain products, processed and semi-processed potato products, dates and processed plant-based foods.

Certification and plant health controls

Egyptian consignments are subject to periodic inspection by specialised committees under the agricultural quarantine authority, Youssef said. More than 70 agricultural products have been coded for export, and phytosanitary requirements have been extended to a large number of non-traditional crops.

For exporters, that framework is the operative condition of entry. Volumes follow certification as much as demand, and each additional coded product widens the list of crops that can legally move into the Saudi market. The extension of plant health rules to non-traditional crops is aimed at categories outside the established potato, onion and citrus trade.

Processed food outweighs raw crops

Egypt's food industry exports to Saudi Arabia reached about $570 million in 2025, above the $350 million recorded for agricultural products, Youssef said, describing Saudi Arabia as the largest Arab importer of Egyptian food products. Total bilateral trade in goods and services across all sectors stood at roughly $7 billion in 2025. He framed the agricultural flow as a source of foreign currency that eases pressure on the dollar and supports Egypt's trade balance.

Youssef argued that stronger Saudi demand allows Egyptian exporters to place product at competitive prices, improving returns for farmers and smallholders and encouraging expansion in higher-value crops, particularly non-traditional categories such as fresh, processed and dried medicinal and aromatic plants. He also linked deeper agricultural trade to Saudi investment in Egyptian production and processing capacity, and pointed to agro-processing as the route to raising value added rather than exporting crops in raw form.