The scale at which bulk edible oil importers in Egypt source edible oil is quite substantial. The country imported 890.41 million kg of palm oil and its fractions other than crude in 2024, worth about $1.24 billion. Just a few more millions and it's around a 1 billion figure.
And the figure becomes quite interesting when we look from a broader perspective. Imports under the broader sunflower, safflower and cottonseed-oil category reached another 720.33 million kg, valued at approximately $730.10 million. Crude soybean-oil imports added 122.48 million kg, worth about $117.89 million.
There is a fairly clear pattern here. Egypt is not simply buying bottles of cooking oil from abroad. A significant part of its import requirement sits further up the supply chain — crude and semi-processed oils entering the country for refining, blending, packaging and distribution.
That distinction is important for anyone looking for edible oil importers in Egypt.
The individual product categories give a much better picture of the market than a single overall import figure.
| Edible Oil / Product | 2024 Import Quantity | 2024 Import Value | Major Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Palm oil & fractions, non-crude - HS 151190 | 890.41 million kg | $1.24 billion | Major global palm-oil suppliers |
| Sunflower, safflower & cottonseed oils - HS 1512 | 720.33 million kg | $730.10 million | Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Moldova |
| Crude soybean oil - HS 150710 | 122.48 million kg | $117.89 million | Russia, Turkey, Italy, Ukraine |
| Palm-kernel/babassu oil, non-crude - HS 151329 | 34.44 million kg | $49.88 million | Indonesia, Malaysia |
| Refined sunflower/safflower oil - HS 151219 | 2.52 million kg | $3.28 million | Turkey, Ukraine, Moldova, Russia |
The sunflower-oil numbers deserve particular attention. Egypt imported 720.33 million kg under HS 1512 in 2024, with Russia supplying about 458.29 million kg and Ukraine another 195.10 million kg . Together, those two origins accounted for roughly 91% of the reported quantity in this category.
Soybean oil has a different supply pattern. Russia supplied around 62.92 million kg of crude soybean oil in 2024, while Turkey supplied another 49.29 million kg.
Palm-kernel oil is smaller by comparison, but still a meaningful industrial trade: Egypt imported 34.44 million kg in 2024, almost entirely from Indonesia and Malaysia.
For an exporter, these numbers tell a more useful story than simply saying that Egypt is a “large edible-oil market”. The real opportunity depends heavily on which oil is being supplied and whether the buyer needs crude, refined or specialised material.
Egypt has built a substantial refining and packaging industry around imported raw materials.
That is particularly visible in soybean, sunflower and palm-based oils. A shipment arriving at an Egyptian port may not go anywhere near a supermarket. It may move directly to a refinery, where the oil is processed, blended, packed or converted into another food ingredient.
This creates demand from a fairly different group of businesses.
Some companies operate large refining facilities. Others are involved in trading and sourcing. There are also manufacturers that buy refined oils or specialty fats for their own food-production activities.
The geography helps as well. Egypt sits between the Mediterranean and Red Sea, with the Suez Canal connecting two of the world's major maritime corridors. Guess what? This definitely gives quite an advantage to the suppliers from the Black Sea, Mediterranean, South East Asia, and the Indian subcontinent.
It also means the sourcing map can change quickly when freight rates, crop availability, geopolitical conditions or international oil prices move.
This is where the Egyptian market becomes particularly interesting for exporters.
The country's buyer side includes large integrated refiners, multinational food groups, oil processors and trading businesses . Some companies import raw oil for their own refining operations, while others trade, pack or distribute finished products.
A few of the more relevant buyer-side companies include:
| Company | Main Oil / Business Focus | Why It Matters to Exporters |
|---|---|---|
| AFIA International Egypt / Savola Foods | Corn oil, sunflower oil, blended vegetable oils, vegetable ghee | A major Egyptian edible-oil processor. Afia Egypt refines crude and semi-refined vegetable oils and has documented working-capital requirements specifically linked to importing edible oils from international markets. |
| Arma Foods | Edible oils, vegetable oils, soybean oil, sunflower oil, corn oil, specialty fats | A large Egyptian oils and fats business with manufacturing and B2B operations. Trade databases also record Arma Food Industries as an active importer, including palm-oil-related HS codes. |
| IFFCO Egypt | Vegetable oils, fats, ghee, margarine and industrial food ingredients | IFFCO Egypt operates a refining and processing business in Suez serving consumer, industrial, bakery and foodservice segments. Its product portfolio includes several edible-oil and fat categories. |
| United Oil Processing & Packaging | Sunflower, soybean, corn, palm olein, mixed vegetable oils and fats | An Egyptian refiner, trader and packer with three refining plants. The company sources raw materials, refines oils and supplies both consumer and industrial markets. |
| Cairo Oils & Soap | Corn oil, sunflower oil, mixed oils, vegetable ghee | A long-established Egyptian oil company involved in refining, packaging, import and export. It also operates a vegetable-oil receiving and storage station at Adabiya Port with 16,500 MT of storage capacity. |
There is an important distinction hidden in this table.
A company such as AFIA International Egypt is relevant to a supplier of crude or semi-refined vegetable oil because its business model includes refining those materials. EBRD documentation specifically describes the company's working-capital requirement for importing its main production input — edible oils — from international markets.
United Oil , meanwhile, combines trading, sourcing, refining, filling and packaging. Its product range covers sunflower oil, soybean oil, corn oil, palm olein and mixed vegetable oils, alongside industrial fats and shortenings.
Cairo Oils & Soap offers another useful example because the company explicitly operates in import and export as well as refining and packaging, and its storage facility at Adabiya gives it a direct connection with bulk-oil logistics.
So when searching for bulk vegetable oil buyers in Egypt , exporters should not limit themselves to companies calling themselves “importers”. Refiners and processors can be some of the more commercially relevant buyers precisely because they need large and regular quantities of raw material.
There is no single procurement requirement across the Egyptian market.
A bulk buyer may be looking for:
The form in which the oil arrives matters too. A refinery buying crude oil will have a completely different receiving and storage arrangement from a distributor buying packaged refined oil.
For suppliers, this means that the first commercial conversation should establish oil type, refining status, quantity, specification and intended use before getting too deep into price.
The principal HS categories for vegetable-oil trade include:
| HS Code | Product |
|---|---|
| 1507 | Soybean oil and fractions |
| 1509 | Olive oil and fractions |
| 1511 | Palm oil and fractions |
| 1512 | Sunflower, safflower and cottonseed oils |
| 1513 | Coconut and palm-kernel oils |
| 1514 | Rapeseed, colza and mustard oils |
| 1515 | Other fixed vegetable oils, including sesame and corn oil categories |
The exact six-digit classification should be checked against the product's physical form and processing status before shipment. Crude and refined oils can fall under different subheadings, and the tariff classification used by the Egyptian importer needs to match the actual cargo.
For bulk vegetable oil, the port question is more than a shipping detail.
The location of the refinery, tank farm and inland transport route can have a direct bearing on the economics of the shipment.
Ain Sokhna is particularly relevant to bulk liquid cargo. The port, located on the Gulf of Suez, has dedicated liquid-bulk infrastructure and tank-farm facilities, alongside its container and dry-bulk operations. SCZONE describes it as a major gateway linking Egypt with the GCC, East Africa and Asia.
For palm-oil cargo arriving from Southeast Asia, the Red Sea route makes the port particularly relevant. More importantly, the surrounding Suez industrial area has substantial food-processing and logistics activity, so the cargo can move relatively quickly into nearby industrial facilities.
Adabiya is another important point on the Red Sea side.
The port handles oils and chemicals, liquid bulk and dry bulk , and has oil and chemical tank farms with a reported capacity of 260,900 cubic metres . It is directly connected to Egypt's road network towards Cairo and the wider industrial belt.
Cairo Oils & Soap is a particularly good example of the connection between port infrastructure and the edible-oil industry: the company operates a vegetable-oil receiving and storage station at Adabiya with 16,500 MT of storage capacity.
Damietta provides Egypt with another Mediterranean gateway and is relevant for cargo serving northern Egypt and the Mediterranean-side industrial market.
For exporters sourcing from the Black Sea region, the Mediterranean route can also be commercially attractive depending on the origin, vessel economics and the final location of the buyer.
Alexandria remains one of Egypt's principal Mediterranean commercial gateways. Its proximity to the country's largest urban and industrial concentration makes it relevant for buyers located around Alexandria, Cairo and the northern manufacturing belt.
The important point is that the cheapest port is not necessarily the cheapest delivery point. A shipment discharged at one port may save on ocean freight but lose that advantage through inland trucking, storage or additional handling.
For bulk vegetable oil, the buyer's tank farm or refinery should therefore be considered before the port is selected.
Food imports into Egypt fall under the country's food-safety and import-control framework, with the National Food Safety Authority (NFSA) playing a central role in regulating imported food. Egypt's NFSA food-import licensing rules require food importers to be licensed, with registration and supporting company documentation forming part of the process.
For an exporter, several areas deserve attention before the cargo is dispatched.
Food importer licensing: Egyptian food importers are required to obtain the applicable NFSA licence. The framework covers both dedicated food importers and food establishments importing products for their own operations.
xFood importer licensing: Imported food must comply with applicable Egyptian food-safety requirements. Where relevant, Egyptian standards and international standards such as Codex may also come into play.
Inspection: Egyptian authorities maintain inspection and conformity procedures for imported food shipments. GOEIC also provides procedures for examination of food imports and requires relevant customs and shipment documentation.
Labelling: Packaged food entering Egypt has specific marking and labelling requirements, including Arabic information and country-of-origin details.
Pre-shipment documentation: The product specification, invoice, packing details, origin documentation, certificates and other shipment papers should be aligned before the cargo leaves the exporting country.
There is one practical point worth stressing here: bulk and retail imports should not be treated as the same regulatory exercise. NFSA-related conformity requirements can differ according to how the food is presented and imported. For example, Egypt's current food-import guidance specifically identifies oils and fats prepared for direct retail consumption in packs of up to 2 kg within a registered commodity category for certificates of conformity.
For a bulk vegetable-oil exporter, the exact product format and intended use should therefore be established with the Egyptian importer before the shipment is contracted.
The larger the shipment, the less useful a simple “price per tonne” quotation becomes.
A serious Egyptian buyer will normally want to know:
For crude oils going to refineries, consistency can be as important as price . A processor planning its production schedule around imported raw material does not want every shipment to arrive with materially different characteristics.
Sustainability credentials can also matter for some buyers. United Oil, for example, states that it maintains a sustainable palm-oil sourcing policy and has held RSPO certifications for its supply chain. AFIA International Egypt also maintains a sustainable palm-oil sourcing policy covering its own operations and suppliers.
That gives exporters another useful lesson: certifications are not simply documents to attach at the end of a transaction. For some buyers, they form part of the procurement specification itself.
For Indian suppliers, Egypt presents an interesting market, but the opportunity needs to be assessed product by product.
Egypt already sources significant volumes of vegetable oils from Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, Malaysia and Indonesia. At the same time, Indian-origin oil is present in some categories. For example, Egypt imported 100,454 kg of crude palm oil from India in 2024 , valued at about $106,680.
The more interesting question for an Indian exporter is therefore not whether Egypt imports vegetable oil — clearly it does — but where Indian supply can compete on product specification, price, freight and continuity of supply.
For bulk shipments, freight economics become particularly important. A competitive ex-plant price can lose its advantage quickly if the shipping route, port charges, storage and inland delivery are not favourable.
For suppliers looking for bulk vegetable oil buyers in Egypt , the challenge is usually not finding a company name. The harder part is finding a requirement that matches the product actually available for shipment.
That means knowing whether the buyer needs crude or refined oil, what quantity is required, which port is preferred, what specification the refinery or processor works with and what commercial terms are acceptable.
Tradologie provides a platform for buyers and suppliers to discuss these requirements directly, including product specifications, quantity, pricing and delivery terms.
For an Indian exporter, that can make the commercial conversation more concrete. Instead of approaching the Egyptian market simply as a list of potential companies, the focus shifts towards a defined bulk requirement that can actually be supplied and delivered economically.
This content is for general informational purposes and is based on the trade, company and regulatory information provided in the source material. The listed companies are relevant buyer and industry leads, not confirmation of current purchasing requirements. Exporters should independently verify buyer demand, specifications, NFSA requirements, documentation, certifications and commercial terms before shipment.
In 2024, Egypt imported 890.41 million kg of non-crude palm oil worth $1.24 billion, 720.33 million kg of sunflower, safflower and cottonseed oils worth $730.10 million, and 122.48 million kg of crude soybean oil worth $117.89 million.
Russia supplied about 458.29 million kg and Ukraine another 195.10 million kg under HS 1512 in 2024. Together, they accounted for roughly 91% of the reported quantity.
The source highlights AFIA International Egypt, Arma Foods, IFFCO Egypt, United Oil Processing & Packaging and Cairo Oils & Soap.
Ain Sokhna, Adabiya, Damietta and Alexandria are important gateways. The most suitable port depends on the buyer's refinery, tank farm, storage and inland logistics.
Food imports are subject to Egypt's food-safety and import-control framework, with the National Food Safety Authority playing a central role. Importers require applicable licensing, while shipments may also involve inspection, conformity procedures, documentation and Arabic labelling.
Buyers typically want details on oil type and grade, crude or refined status, quantity, monthly supply capacity, quality parameters, loading and destination ports, origin, certificates, payment terms and delivery schedules.
