Egypt's exports of medicinal and aromatic plants reached $852 million in 2025, Agriculture Minister Alaa Farouk said, up from about $400 million in previous years.

Farouk announced the figure at the opening of the fifth Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Festival at the Agricultural Museum in Dokki. The two-day event, supported by GIZ, brought together more than 80 farmers, processors, exporters and investors.

About 80,000 feddans across Egypt are planted with these crops, among them marjoram, basil, mint, anise, chamomile, fennel, coriander, hibiscus and jasmine, alongside aromatic oils and extracts. The export figure covers dried herbs, extracts and oils together, and for some crops around 85% of dried-herb output is shipped abroad.

The ministry now wants to move beyond exporting raw crops by encouraging investment in drying, extraction, distillation, essential oils and other plant-based products with higher added value. It is also working on farming practices, quality and safety, water-use efficiency, and the traceability and certification systems international markets require. Farouk called for closer links between farmers, processors and exporters, more contract farming, and greater integration of small-scale farmers into value chains.

Part of that work is already under way in Beni Suef. Local Development and Environment Minister Manal Awad said a service centre for medicinal and aromatic plants is being developed in Samasta with UNDP and the European Union. It will include sterilisation and processing units, residue testing, and advisory and marketing support for growers.

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