Egypt has exported record-breaking volumes of oranges to India in the first half of the current MY 2022/23 (October-September). India is one of the key export markets for Egyptian oranges, but exports to India are unstable, with their historical record observed in the MY 2020/21.
In the first 6 months of the current MY, Egyptian exporters shipped 40,000 tonnes of oranges to India, the largest volume for this period over the past years. Nevertheless, as Egyptian exports peak in March-May, it is still too early to speak about the final results of the current MY, and they will be obvious after arrival of the statistical data for April and May.
Meanwhile, there are several factors that allow to expect the exports to reach the previous year’s results, if not to exceed them. Firstly, in 2022, Egyptian orange production returned to its normal levels after a sharp fall in 2021. Secondly, the devaluation of the Egyptian pound in 2022-2023 has automatically made Egyptian products more competitive in price in the foreign markets.
Problems with orange production in India should also be taken into account, as well as the situation with orange shipments to Ukraine and Russia (the two other important destinations), which has forced Egyptian exporters to seek for alternative markets.
Along with the EU and Middle East, India has been an important sales market for Egyptian oranges since the MY 2020/21, when Indian importers bought record high 150,000 tonnes of oranges (86% from Egypt). Moreover, Egypt always was the leading supplier of oranges to India over at least five past seasons and had the lowest share of 62% of 43,000 tonnes just in the MY 2019/20.
The list of other relatively large orange exporters to India also includes South Africa, the UAE, and Australia. South Africa more than doubled its orange exports to India in the past five seasons, and they totaled 27,000 tonnes. Australian exports are much lower and vary between 2,000 tonnes and 6,000 tonnes annually.
As regards the UAE, this country also annually increases orange exports to India, but most of those volumes are represented by re-exports of oranges from South Africa, as supported by their coinciding export periods.
It is also very interesting that Egypt has almost no competitors in the Indian market in February-June, which is quite widely enjoyed by Egyptian exporters. Imports from Egypt start going down in July, when the Indian market switches to Southern Hemisphere (South Africa and Australia). Local oranges dominate in the market approximately between October and January, the period of relatively minimal imports.
