The Dutch-based company Citrozone is currently preparing for new Egyptian citrus season, which will kick off in around 45 days. According to CEO Ahmed Abdelhady, the Egyptian government has already set 20 November as the date when exports will be officially allowed to start. “I will travel soon to Egypt to find out everything about volume, sizes, etc. and I will have that information in two weeks,” said Mr Abdelhady.
Citrozone’s main export markets are Scandinavia (namely Sweden and Finland) and Eastern Europe (mostly Czech Republic), with some customers also in the UK. "This differs greatly from the current trend amongst Egyptian exporters, who are really focused on the Far East, partly because they accept the lower quality CAT2, while Europe receives the CAT1. In our case, we prefer Europe because of the shorter transit times.”
In terms of product range, while the company has so far focused only on Navel and Valencia oranges, this year they are also trying to bring also grapefruit, lemon and mandarins. Mr Abdehlady believes this move towards diversification is highly important, “When you are offering only one product to the customer, it is much more difficult to sell than when you offer two or three.”
As far as packaging is concerned, while the 16 kilo gross weight (15 kilo net weight) is the most popular, Citrozone is flexible and can adapt to any customer requirements. "The goal is to deliver premium quality fruit with the lowest possible cost in the entire Mediterranean, and that is why European markets prefer Egyptian citrus, even over Morocco’s,” concludes Mr Abdelhady.
