Hisham Al-Masri, the chairperson of Orient Group’s Board of Directors, said the company had achieved $30m in exports during the first eight months of 2018, and exports are expected to rise to $42m before the end of the year, compared to $35.5m last year.
Furthermore, Orient Group aims to increase its exports by 18% this year by expanding into new markets in East Asia.
Al-Masri emphasised the company’s efforts to strengthen its presence in East Asia, especially Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, China, and South Korea.
He explained that East Asian countries’ main imports are; dates, oil crops, and spices, adding that agricultural crops also have a good opportunity there.
Orient Group owns two factories for date manufacturing and packaging with a capacity of 50,000 tonnes, however actual current production capacity currently is below 20%, remarked Al-Masri.
Moreover, the company’s chairperson added that the company is considering importing dates for domestic packaging, followed by re-export, despite the high import expenses.
The company directs 80% of its production to the local market and 20% for exports, he indicated.
Orient Group’s main markets are East Asia, Russia, South Africa, Eastern Europe, and Arab markets, led by Syria, Palestine, Iraq, and Yemen.
Al-Masri praised the new export system approved by the Ministry of Agriculture and considered it as a good step to improve the Egyptian producer’s reputation.
The Ministries of Industry and Agriculture announced the system of encoding agricultural crops for export and included grapes, guava, pomegranate, and pepper.
The system aims to raise the amounts of Egyptian crops in the markets they target, by adhering to the quality factors and specifications required in each market.
Orient Group is an Egyptian joint stock company, founded in 2004 in Alexandria, and serves as a major player in the import and export of a wide range of agricultural food products, finished goods, and raw materials.
The company has expanded to 25 countries around the world, and established liaison offices and subsidiaries in the US, Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, Southeast Asia as well as South Africa.
