RSHB experts have identified the top 5 Arab countries for agricultural exports
The Arab countries include 22 states. The main supply market is Egypt, which accounted for $2.2 billion in exports of Russian agricultural products, or 37% of supplies to the region. Egypt, along with Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Libya and Sudan, makes up the top five in food purchases from Russia worth $4.8 billion, with a combined share of 81% among Arab countries.
The geopolitical changes of recent years and the change in the foreign economic course were the result of the redistribution of the international trade course of Russia from the West to the East and the Arab countries. As the head of the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov said earlier, the trade turnover between the Russian Federation and the UAE alone in 2022 increased by 68% and amounted to $9 billion.
Thus, the relevance of expanding sales markets in the region is increasing.
Based on an analysis of deliveries since the beginning of 2023 compared to the same period in 2022, the Center for Industry Expertise identified new promising export directions to the Arab countries.
The total volume of deliveries to these countries for the year increased by almost 1.8 times to $3.4 billion.
In terms of supplies of agricultural products to Russia, Egypt again leads the way - the total volume amounted to 0.69 billion US dollars, or 71% of the total exports of agricultural products from the Arab countries. Among the leaders are also Morocco (0.19 billion and 20%), the United Arab Emirates (0.03 billion and 3%), Saudi Arabia (0.02 billion and 2%) and Tunisia (0.01 billion and 1%).
The most popular categories of products supplied from the Arab countries were fruits and nuts (58% of the total supply), vegetables and some edible root crops (29%), fish and seafood (4%), coffee and tea (3%) and food processing of vegetables and fruits (1%).
Among these categories, the palm belongs to young potatoes, which is due to the climatic features of the designated countries - it accounts for 20% of the total exports of agricultural products from Arab countries. Also in the top of the ranking are oranges (17%), clementines (9%), table grapes (5%) and tangerines (5%).
“Economic ties between Russia and the Arab countries have a long history of strong partnerships. For example, Egypt has been a leader in the supply of potatoes, and Morocco has been a leader in the supply of citrus fruits to the Russian market for many years. Russia, in turn, is a recognized leader in the supply of grain to these countries. The trend towards increasing the supply of agricultural products is showing positive growth, and we are confident that in the future this direction will develop and strengthen not only in the usual categories of goods, but also in the supply of local goods, such as northern berries, sea buckthorn and other agricultural products”, - notes Andrey Dalnov.