The Egyptian orange season has begun amid tough competition from Morocco and Turkey, while the crisis in the Red Sea continues to weigh on exporters. Nevertheless, according to Mohamed Fooad, co-founder of EgyFarm, this season has better prospects than the previous one.
Fooad says, “We’ve been able to avoid an oversupply of volumes at the national level this season, which is a great relief. Volumes are just optimal to cover the needs of the global market.” To recall, last season’s excessively large volumes, coupled with the difficulty of reaching Asian markets, had pushed exporters to liquidate their oranges without much regard to prices.
Lower volumes this season have also helped growers to obtain larger sizes, Fooad says. “Less density on the trees has given us better size distribution and better conditions in sorting and quality control. This will encourage many buyers, especially from Spain, to import Egyptian oranges and then distribute them to the Netherlands and the UK.”
The season is off to a slow start, however, as Egyptian exporters wait for their competitors to exhaust their volumes. Fooad says, “We’re facing tough competition right now from Morocco and Turkey. They have a clear logistical advantage since they can work faster by trucking and distributing to Europe and Russia. On the other hand, we have the same advantage when it comes to the Gulf markets.”
As for Asian markets, logistical complications are still present, according to Fooad. He explains, “The Red Sea crisis is still with us, and will make the difference between Egyptian exporters on how resourcefully they adapt to it. At Egyfarm, we have set up a consulting team to make the best decisions possible as the crisis affects routes. We can intervene, for example, on parameters linked to the choice of insurance companies, or rerouting our shippings via European ports.”
For more information:
Mohamed Fooad
Egyfarm
Tel: +201123570777 / +201277778824 / +201277778825
Email: [email protected]
www.egyfarm.co
