Egypt’s tomato farmers are facing heavy losses this season after abundant supply sent prices tumbling. Growers and specialists describe an expansion in planted acreage, combined with hot weather that accelerated ripening and concentrated deliveries. Local markets and processing factories could not absorb the glut. Some fruit spoiled in fields because harvesting was delayed; other loads deteriorated while trucks queued outside factories, even as farmers continued paying for transport and labour.
The losses have prompted warnings that growers may abandon tomatoes in coming seasons, reducing supply and creating another cycle of sharp price increases.
Sherif Abu Habbara, a tomato grower and agricultural-input trader in Borg El Arab, Alexandria, tells Zawia3 that cultivation costs have doubled while selling prices have fallen to exceptionally low levels. Summer planting generally begins in February or April, he says, with harvesting continuing into mid-September.
In earlier years, a feddan—roughly 0.42 hectares—could generate profits of EGP 50,000, he recalls. This year, his cultivation costs reached EGP 130,000–150,000 per feddan, as fertiliser and pesticide prices rose by as much as two-thirds.
Abu Habbara says large traders and companies dominate the market. Input suppliers increasingly sell on credit, encouraging farmers to plant more land than their finances can support. He reports personal losses of around EGP 15 million after planting 115 feddans.
He attributes part of the glut to inexperienced entrants, estimating that they account for 60% of producers. That is his assessment, rather than a verified national breakdown. “Seed companies introduced high-yielding varieties,” he says, describing a market in which outlets for the additional crop failed to keep pace. He reports farmgate prices as low as EGP 1 per kilogram and proceeds of no more than EGP 10,000 for a feddan’s crop.
Abu Habbara also says exports had stopped in the market available to him. This should not be read as a nationwide halt: the export figures cited elsewhere in the report show shipments continuing during 2025.
He criticises what he sees as the Agriculture Ministry’s absence. He estimates government support at no more than 5%, in the form of limited chemical inputs, and says growers remain dependent on private seed and fertiliser suppliers. He wants tighter market oversight, regulation of planted acreage comparable to arrangements for rice, and closer supervision of input companies.
Talaat Annous, a grower in Kafr El Sheikh, puts summer tomato cultivation costs at EGP 100,000–120,000 per feddan, citing the additional care needed in intense heat. Many farmers cultivate rented land, he adds, with rents of EGP 30,000–50,000 per feddan increasing the burden.
“Production costs rose by about 30% this year compared with last year,” he says. The price of a kilogram of imported seed reached EGP 8,500, up from EGP 2,000–3,000 previously, alongside higher fertiliser and pesticide prices.
Annous says a crate currently sells for EGP 50–65, while picking and transport alone cost EGP 30–40. That leaves little or nothing towards the costs already incurred in growing the crop. A feddan’s harvest may bring no more than EGP 20,000, he says, with losses that he estimates at EGP 80,000–90,000 per feddan.
He links the oversupply to farmers responding to the previous year’s high prices. In his view, public statements by the head of the Farmers’ Syndicate about high profits encouraged inexperienced growers to enter the market.
Processing and exports have not absorbed the excess, Annous says. Factories sometimes delay unloading for days, allowing fruit to spoil. He estimates exports at only 3–5% of production and says they are concentrated in limited periods. That estimate is not directly comparable with the separate fresh-export statistics cited below. Drying, he adds, requires suitable varieties that are not those his growers planted for the summer crop.
Annous says losses have persisted since December 2024, yet many farmers continue because agriculture is their only livelihood. He urges the ministry to help market the surplus and provide guidance on crops needed by domestic and export markets.
Omar El Abbasi, a farmer in the Bangar El Sokkar area, gives a higher cost estimate of EGP 180,000 per feddan: EGP 25,000 for seedlings, EGP 20,000 for manure, EGP 20,000 for modern irrigation equipment, EGP 50,000 for rent and EGP 65,000 for labour, diesel, fertilisers and pesticides.
El Abbasi says a feddan may yield only 1,000 crates. Even at EGP 100 a crate, gross proceeds of EGP 100,000 would fall to EGP 50,000 after picking, transport and commissions—against cultivation costs he puts at EGP 180,000.
He offers another example: a six-feddan plot costing EGP 600,000 that can now be sold for no more than EGP 200,000, leaving a loss of EGP 400,000. These are separate examples with different cost assumptions, rather than a single consistent per-feddan budget.
Even those calculations assume a healthy crop, El Abbasi says. Pest damage can reduce proceeds to EGP 20,000. Landowners who do not pay rent are also suffering substantial losses.
More supply than the market can absorb
Hussein Abu Saddam, head of the Farmers’ Syndicate, identifies three main causes: a large expansion in tomato acreage, output exceeding local needs and heatwaves that accelerated ripening. Together, he says, they pushed supply beyond demand and reduced wholesale and retail prices.
He describes growing interest in tomatoes across different types of cultivation, including beds and rooftops, while stressing that farmers’ planting decisions are the main influence on the market. He expects some price recovery between harvest cycles, but warns that widespread withdrawal from tomato cultivation could produce unexpected price spikes.
Abu Saddam says exports account for only a small share of production. He calls for new export markets and more processing factories, particularly for tomato paste, as well as contract farming arrangements that secure a buyer before planting.
Hatem El Naguib, deputy head of the vegetables division, says summer-crop farmers did not make a profit this year. Abundant output and the operation of supply and demand drove prices down.
“What farmers received after harvesting did not cover production costs,” El Naguib says. He argues that the challenge is to keep growers in production while balancing their interests with those of consumers.
He says such losses recur and may be offset in later seasons. At the time of the interview, he put wholesale tomato prices at EGP 3.5–4 per kilogram and retail prices at EGP 6–7. These quotations concern different points in the supply chain from farmers’ lower farmgate figures.
El Naguib expected prices to remain low until the end of summer, with winter prices still subject to supply-and-demand fluctuations. This was a forecast made during the August 2025 reporting period, not a statement about subsequent prices.
Figures attributed in the original report to the Agricultural Research Center put tomato acreage at around 367,000 feddans and annual output at 6.7 million tonnes. The report cited approximately 52,000 tonnes of fresh tomato exports in 2024 and more than 80,000 tonnes in the first half of 2025. These figures concern fresh exports; they should not be treated as including all processed tomato products.
Rethinking the agricultural map
Tarek Abu Moussa, professor of agricultural economics at the Agricultural Research Center, gives a rounded estimate of about 400,000 feddans planted across summer, winter and Nile-season cycles, producing around six million tonnes annually. His estimates use different rounding from the figures above and are not an additional production total.
He describes Egypt as a leading Arab and African tomato producer and among the largest globally. A precise international rank depends on the statistical year and dataset, which he did not specify in the interview.
“This crisis is not new,” Abu Moussa tells Zawia3, comparing it with difficulties affecting potatoes, onions, cotton, wheat, maize and soybeans. He identifies the absence of a clear crop plan and pricing arrangements that would protect a minimum farmer income against market volatility.
Too few processing plants are located close to growing areas, he says, leaving vegetable surpluses vulnerable to rapid spoilage. Unplanned acreage expansion combines with higher input costs, while climatic stress, pests and fungal diseases add further risks.
Abu Moussa also points to disruption in some Arab and European export markets linked to political conditions. His account concerns particular outlets and periods, rather than evidence that all tomato exports fell during the first half of 2025.
He proposes an accurate agricultural map, fairer pricing, stronger marketing cooperatives, processing plants near production areas and effective contract farming to give growers reliable sales channels.
Ahmed Mahmoud Abdel Dayem, emeritus professor at the Horticulture Research Institute, similarly links this season’s losses to excess supply and heat stress. High temperatures can accelerate the timing of ripening in some conditions while damaging plants and reducing productivity in others; a market glut does not mean heat invariably increases yields.
He recommends properly designed windbreaks as one protective measure. He suggests they can reduce temperatures by 5–10°C under suitable conditions, but the interview does not provide the conditions or evidence needed to treat that range as a general guarantee.
For Abdel Dayem, processing offers the best way to use the surplus rather than sending the entire crop to the fresh market. Tomato juice, paste and other products could reduce the pressure that causes prices to collapse.
“We cannot rely only on the private sector in this field,” he says. He calls for state funding or arrangements under which factories produce paste for public bodies such as the Supply Ministry, drawing an analogy with state purchasing mechanisms for wheat. He presents this as a proposal, not an existing tomato procurement scheme.
Abdel Dayem says the agricultural map needs a comprehensive review based on accurate seasonal data and scientific analysis. Planning should begin with realistic demand for each crop, then determine suitable acreage. He also favours a return to planned crop rotation to distribute cultivation more systematically and avoid unmanaged surpluses.
Mohamed Abdel Tawab, former deputy agriculture minister for land reclamation, stresses that tomato production responds directly to weather. Favourable conditions can bring abundant harvests, but Egypt’s market relies more heavily on fresh consumption than processed products.
He calls for processing capacity and better coordination of planting decisions. Farmers, he says, need information about demand rather than choosing crops in isolation from the market.
Abdel Tawab proposes crop-specific associations in which farmers register and obtain inputs and marketing support in exchange for a share of proceeds. Small paste-processing units in agricultural areas, combined with stronger export channels, could help sustain production.
Sun-drying tomatoes has become more widespread in Upper Egypt, he adds. Freeze-drying offers another, more technologically demanding option: the crop is frozen and exposed to low pressure so that ice passes directly into vapour. The process can preserve structure and reduce moisture for storage, though it requires specialised equipment and is not interchangeable with inexpensive sun-drying.
The fresh-export quantities cited in the report remain small compared with annual production. Turning more of the crop into marketable products therefore requires attention not only to output but also to suitable varieties, processing capacity, logistics and dependable buyers.
A parliamentary call for action
MP Mahmoud Essam submitted a request for a parliamentary briefing to Speaker Hanafy Gebaly, directed at the agriculture and land reclamation minister, over growers’ heavy losses. He called for an agricultural-industrial map linking crop production to processing needs.
Essam asked the government to explain the gap between production costs and market prices, and whether it had a clear strategy for tracking planted acreage and connecting it to processing plans. He also sought information on measures to expand agricultural manufacturing, stabilise prices and raise the value added by crops.
The tomato crisis brings together wider weaknesses in Egypt’s agricultural economy: rising costs, climatic pressures, poorly coordinated planting and limited outlets for perishable surpluses. Growers, traders and researchers differ over responsibility, but repeatedly identify the need for better links between farms, processors and markets.
For farmers already facing debt and losses, another good harvest does not necessarily mean a good income. The question is whether planning, processing and marketing policies can keep abundant production from becoming a financial disaster—and prevent today’s glut from turning into tomorrow’s shortage.
