High Tomato Prices Squeeze Egypt's Sauce and Concentrate Exports

Egypt's tomato paste and sauce industry is under mounting pressure from the cost of its main raw material, with domestic tomato prices staying high enough to lift production costs and erode the competitiveness of Egyptian product in export markets, the Cairo business daily Al Borsa reported.

Exports of tomato concentrate reached about $26.6 million in the first half of this year, while sauce exports reached about $24.5 million, for a combined total of about $51.1 million. Al Borsa said the half-year pace points to a further decline for the full year.

A second consecutive annual decline

Egyptian exports of tomato concentrate and sauce fell 13.4% last year to about $112.4 million, from about $129.8 million in 2024, according to figures from the General Organization for Export and Import Control (GOEIC) cited by Al Borsa.

The sector's economics rest on the availability of tomatoes at workable prices during glut seasons, when factories buy and store large volumes for later processing and export. Sustained high raw prices in recent months have limited the ability of companies to build sufficient inventory, which has fed through to lower production and export volumes.

The five-pound threshold

Ibrahim El Sayed, export manager at United for Concentrates (Rosso), told Al Borsa that sauce and concentrate exports face growing pressure from the sharp rise in tomato prices on the domestic market, the industry's core input. He said the price of tomatoes used in concentrate and sauce production should not exceed about 5 Egyptian pounds per kilogram, and that current levels push the cost of the finished product to a point where competing with Chinese product in global markets becomes difficult.

According to El Sayed, lower tomato prices during glut seasons allow factories to buy and store large quantities, keeping output stable and exports running through higher-price periods. Restoring the competitiveness of Egyptian concentrate exports, he said, requires raw prices to return to levels that bring production costs down.

Capacity cuts and new destinations

Sobhy Ashoush, export director at Toledo Food Industries, said high raw material prices and tight supply have forced some factories to cut production capacity after foreign demand weakened and competition from other countries intensified. He identified Brazil and Iran as leading competitors in sauce exports and said Egypt produces about 6 million tonnes a year. Toledo intends to invest in dried tomato processing, citing its added value and demand in Turkey and Italy for pizza manufacturing.

Ahmed El Sebaei, general manager of the Egyptian Swiss Group for Pasta, Milling and Concentrates, said the group entered four new sauce export markets this year:

• Romania
• Greece
• France
• Zambia

The group currently exports to about 25 countries across Africa, Europe, Asia and Latin America. Its sauce production capacity stands at about 3,800 tonnes per month, and it is targeting an increase of about 25% through new expansions. El Sebaei said the group has begun exporting pizza and pasta sauces for the first time, shipping them to France, Romania, Germany and the United States, and is studying additional markets including the United Arab Emirates.

Crop base and export mix

Egypt plants more than 367,000 feddans of tomatoes with annual output exceeding 6.7 million tonnes, a production base Al Borsa described as supporting further expansion in agricultural processing, reduced waste and higher value added. Tomatoes rank ninth among Egypt's fresh agricultural exports, with shipments of about 52,000 tonnes in 2024 and more than 80,000 tonnes in the first half of 2025.

Exports of processed tomato products, including concentrates and dried tomatoes, exceed $100 million a year, underlining the sector's weight in Egypt's agricultural processing and export earnings.