Egypt recently announced its status as the world’s largest orange exporter, after citrus farms have been prospering in the North African country over the past few years.

“Egyptian oranges have reached most of the world’s markets as Egypt now ranks first worldwide in exporting oranges, surpassing Spain that has been in the lead over the past few years,” said Ahmed al-Attar, head of the Central Administration of Plant Quarantine (CAPQ) which belongs to the Egyptian Ministry of Agriculture.

Since the beginning of 2020, Egypt has exported 1.3 million tonnes of oranges amid a growing demand for Egyptian agricultural products, the exports of which have reached 2.2 million tonnes since January despite the global outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, according to a recent statement by CAPQ.

At one of the farms of Maghrabi Agriculture (MAFA), the largest orchard in Egypt and probably in the world, Samy al-Sayyid, manager of CAPQ exporters service department, was supervising the stages of citrus processing from harvesting until packing and loading for exportation.

“CAPQ inspectors are present all day at citrus farms for supervision. They are also present at sea, air or land ports to complete exportation procedures without any delay,” the CAPQ official told Xinhua at MAFA’s packhouse.

Sayyid pointed out that nearly 100,000 tonnes of oranges have been exported to China this year. xinhuanet.com