Market Trends of Egypt Agrochemicals Industry
This section covers the major market trends shaping the Egypt Agrochemicals Market according to our research experts:
Decreasing Per Capita Arable Land and Need for Increased Crop Productivity
Egypt's grain productivity is Egypt'srelatively low compared to neighboring African economies. The significant factors behind the low agricultural productivity in Egypt are higher pest infestation, inadequate infrastructure, limited supply of agricultural inputs, and lack of high-yielding varieties and cultivars. Modern agrochemical inputs, like fertilizers and pesticides, potentially help farmers boost productivity significantly, particularly in regions like Egypt, where current input uptake has historically been limited, with low crop yields. Thus, the demand for agrochemicals is anticipated to increase during the forecast period.
According to the FAO, the area per capita of cropland in 2019 accounted for 0.0391 ha/cap and was decreased by 0.0388 ha/cap in the next year, which will subsequently reduce the arable land for crops in the coming years. The region's population is proliferating, thus increasing food demand. Supplying food to this growing population has become a threat. On the other hand, arable land is declining due to industrialization and urbanization. Fertilizers have been used for a long time to increase the productivity of crops. Fair and balanced use of agrochemicals will help feed the growing population from the available cultivable land, thereby boosting the demand for agrochemicals, such as fertilizers and pesticides, in Egypt in the future times.
Increasing Demand for Pesticides
Pesticides are the major agrochemicals used for plant protection purposes. However, the country is highly import-dependent, as 75% of the pesticide demand is fulfilled by imports. Egypt imports pesticides from 27 countries. According to ITC Trademap, in the year 2021, the total imported quantities of pesticides accounted for USD 99,416 thousand, which the major exporters are China accounted for around 28.6% of total imports, followed by Germany accounted for 11.2%, Spain accounted for 7.84%, and France accounted for 5.91%.
In May 2021, The Egyptian Environment Ministry had an agreement with the global company Geocycle Lafarge to safely dispose 200 tons of hazardous pesticides in this year to promote sustainable farming practices by biopesticides ranges. These hazardous pesticides are assembled from various regions across Egypt including Cairo, Alexandria, Upper Egypt and the Delta. The total number of pesticides registered with generic names in Egypt is 273 pesticides, while the number of commercial products is 1,586 in the year 2019. Biopesticides are not quite popular in Egypt, except for Bacillus thuringiensis, which is registered at the Ministry of Agriculture in Egypt. Thus, such factors are likely to stimulate the growth of pesticides during the forecast period.
