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The main sub- sectors in Egypt, classified by value added, are sugar, oil and fats and mill products, accounting for around 86% of the total value added of the agro-food industry (African Development Bank, 2007). The food processing subsector has experienced significant growth (around 20% per year on average), fuelled by both a growing domestic (and tourism) consumer market and exports. The subsector’s main activities are basically fruit processing (juices, jams, marmalades, confectioneries), frozen vegetables, cereals and biscuits for both domestic and export markets. Other products such as oil, flour, sugar, non-alcoholic and alcoholic beverages, dairy products and ice cream are more focused on the domestic markets.

The most important agro-industrial sub-sectors in Jordan are bakery products, vegetable oils, animal fats and milling products. The meat processing industry is active and it has specialized in frozen processed meat products, these products are exported to the neighbouring countries. The major vegetables grown locally are tomatoes (representing about 31% of total production), potatoes (about 10%) and cucumber (about 9%). Among the fruit tree products olives represent the most important production. Vegetables sub-sector covers the industry, which processes fruits and vegetables, namely tomatoes. Companies mainly produce processed tomatoes and cooked vegetable products. Processed tomato is a large component of Jordan’s agro-food sector. The industry produces a wide range of products coming from the local tomato crops (peeled tomatoes in cans, tomatoes cubes in cans, tomatoes concentrate, triple concentrate, ketchup, etc.). There are also other companies which use Jordanian raw materials in the processing of ready cooked meals. There is scope for producing freeze and de-hydrated dried fruits and vegetables, right now most of the freeze products are imported from Central and Eastern Europe.

Jordan produces 35 litre of milk per capita while the domestic milk consumption is equivalent to 50 litres per capita. The country imports about 8000 tons of powder milk each year. Dairy products are generally yogurt and cheese (Halloumi type). Milk in bottles or pack is available on the local market but highly priced as it is pasteurised milk.

Bakery includes mills, cereals and breads, is very dynamic and scattered, in fact it accounts for the greatest number of companies in the local food production. Statistics from Jordan Investment Board indicate that the grain milling firms represent 20 – 40% of total investments in the food sector.

Cocoa, chocolate, and sugar product are traditional ones in the Arab world, in addition to the ethnic production (Halawa). The companies export to their traditional Arab and Gulf countries’ market and even to the US, for an amount of 2.184 million JD (15% of domestic production).

The size of the market of the soft drinks, including fruit juice, and supply of mineral water are close to 80,000 tonnes of which 65,000 ton locally produced and 12,000-15,000 imported. In fact the sector is ready to receive new investments; recently a big multinational enterprise has entered the

Food and beverages products are considered as an important sector in the Lebanese economy. The industry represents 4,2% of the total exports (US $ 64,7 million). However, there is a continued need to focus on standards and technical specifications. This can only be through investing on technological innovation, automation and quality control of processing plant. Fruits and beverages processing and preservation sub sector comprise around 4% of the total food and beverage sector (160 establishments), while bakeries represent 48% of the total and sweets industries 22.5%. Some 150 companies have a production capacity that enables them to export. The most important areas of production are for processed foods, such as pickles, jam and packed foods, with 132 companies operating in that sector. Another 35 companies, mostly in the Bekaa valley, are in dairy products. Fruits and vegetable sector for example, the success this sector giggly connected with the agricultural sector that is most important source of raw materials, increased mechanization in agricultural production is needed, consequently financing and contract growing needs to be organized. On the other hand the need to achieve and maintain levels of quality that satisfy international standards can be important catalyst for the ago-food business. For example, wine production contributes little to exports (5% of the total export value). Nevertheless, high quality Lebanese wine still maintains a strong reputation.

In Morocco, the grain processing sector is the most important food industry sub-sector, representing around 54% of the total. Their contribution to the added value of the AFI remains low and does not exceed 4.5% in 2009. The tobacco industry, which is a monopoly, emerges as the largest contributor to the AFI value added with a share of 34.6%, or about 8.1 billion dirham. The beverage industry, dairy and fish industries have a contribution to the value of between 10% and 16.5%. The other branches such as fats, fruits and vegetables and the meat industry show smaller shares not exceeding 9% each.

The Syrian agro-food processing sector is characterized by high diversity of its products which exceeds 24 processed foodstuffs. Both private and state-owned companies operate in agro- processing activities. The private sector processes very wide varieties of agro-food products such as, olive oil manufacturing, dairy processing, in addition to the traditional industries like bakery, sweets, and beverages. Recently the private sector entered new domains such as frozen products, fruit juices, snacks and pickles, and nuts and modern olive oil processing. Currently, the private sector processed food accounts for a major share of agro-food industries. The agro-food processing in public sector deals with processed fruit and vegetables, oil, dairy products, biscuits, pasta, dried onions, sugar and sweets, water, beer, and spirits.

In Tunisia, agro-food products use most of the agricultural produce either in a blended or packaged form or by way of transformation. While sea food, oranges, dates, other fruits and vegetables belong to the first category, olive oil and part of the tomato production that goes to transformation belong to the second; i.e. are processed and then internally commercialized or exported.

Turkey’s processed food sector has many world leading products. The sugar and chocolate confectionary industry has increased its product variety and volume in the past few years. Turkey is self sufficient in the production of sugar which has led to sugar confectionary having a great role in Turkish traditions. Confectionaries are widely exchanged as gifts during religious festivals, wedding ceremonies and celebrations. Although the sugar and chocolate confectionary sector in Turkey is historically based on the production of traditional Turkish confectionary products such as Turkish delight and halva, other confectionary products such as chocolate confectionary and chewing gum are growing rapidly. The Turkish gum sector is very competitive due to the presence of powerful local and multinational companies hence production of gum has steadily increased production of sugared gum, sugar-free gum, and bubble gum since 2000.

The pasta industry in Turkey is one of the biggest in the world. Semolina and macaroni factories were among the first branches of the food industry to be established in Turkey. Today, annual production of pasta in Turkey is over 600,000 thousand tons and is exported to over 100 countries. Turkey exports mainly uncooked pasta without egg, constituting up to 80-90% of the total Turkish pasta exports so far.

Turkey is a major producer of olive oil as well. Turkey holds the second place in table olive production and fourth in olive oil production in the world. Turkish olive oil is an important ingredient in many Turkish dishes and is well known throughout the world. Turkish olive oil is in demand in every part of the world and is exported to over 90 countries. With its highly diversified production base, Turkey offers a wide range of agricultural products to the world at notably competitive prices.

Turkey has traditional eating habits that remain stable in the majority of the population. However, the Turkish food sector is becoming more elaborated as retailers require higher standards from food manufacturers, and investments accompanied by improvements in the sector take place. Through the widespread presence of modern MGR outlets and rising disposable incomes, consumption patterns have been shifting to packaged and processed foods, such as ready-to-eat meals and frozen foods. Additionally, the increases in the number of females in full-time employment have supported the trend towards packaged, frozen and ready food. Therefore, considering that Turkey still has the lowest per capita consumption of packaged food in Europe, there is considerable potential in the aforementioned sub-sectors. Globally, Turkey is one of the largest markets for baked goods, since such goods have a significant share in the diets of the Turkish population. With rising incomes, packaged bread consumption presents an increase and at the same time, demand for different bread varieties, such as high-fibre and speciality artisan breads offer an opportunity for this higher profit market compared with traditional baked products.