The volume is going to be quite large for the Tunisian company, but Mohamed Boumaiza has some concerns with regards to quality. “Our customers are very strict and sometimes have their doubts. Therefore, we invite them to our company to observe our preparation of their shipment. In this way, the customer has a direct overview of the quality of the product they are purchasing.”
The prices of dates like other fruits and vegetables are linked to supply and demand, but are also centred around Ramadan. “The harvesting of dates starts in October and November. During the period prior to Ramadan, the prices will increase. During Ramadan, they will remain stable, while afterwards the prices will go down again,” explains Mohamed Boumaiza.
According to Mohamed Boumaiza, there has been a worldwide increase in demand for dates. His company has been working on promotion through exhibitions and other events in countries like Turkey, India and Dubai.
“Our main new market is going to be India, where we managed to attract some customers through exhibitions. We now have a contract for 400 tons. Our main competitor in India is Pakistan. Pakistan offers a variety of dates that quite frankly aren’t as good as our Deglet Nour variety. However, dates from Pakistan are also cheaper. This is in part due to the shorter transit times with Pakistan being a neighbouring country of India, but also because of the fact that a large population of India is quite poor. These consumers unfortunately can’t afford our dates. Still, with a consumer base consisting of millions of Muslims, India remains a very interesting market for our company.”
Mohamed Boumaiza notices something similar with regards to the Turkish market. The main competition for dates in this region comes from Iran. "Iran exports cheap dates, they do not produce and export Deglet Nour. The main challenge is that Turkish consumers want our Deglet Nour dates for prices similar to the cheaper and inferior Iranian dates.”
Though there has been a rising trend for unpitted dates, Mohamed Boumaiza states that most Muslim consumers want their products do be as natural as possible. “They want their dates as traditional and unmodified as possible. They prefer pitted dates over unpitted ones,” concludes Mohamed Boumaiza.
