Due to a good winter temperatures, the Egyptian grape sector should see good volumes in the coming season. More cold periods have led to a good fertility of the Egyptian soil, which in turn should translate into an increased yield during the harvest.
According to Mohamed El Baroudy of the Egyptian company El Roda, the season is set to be similar to last year's. However, until the end of March it will not be possible to give an accurate prediction of the coming season.
“The beginning of March marks the start of the flowering stage. After that, there are a set number of days for each grape variety until we see the end of the farming stage. We’ll start out with sweet early varieties like Prime, which we follow up with red seedless, after which we continue with open field crops of varieties like Superior or SugarOne around the second half of May.
The target market for most Egyptian growers and exporters is the UK and Europe, with UK being a particularly important market for El Roda. Most Egyptian companies are excited about the prospects of trade with China, as the Chinese market is now open for Egyptian produce. While the Middle East is still important for Egyptian grapes, El Baroudy doesn’t consider it to be the biggest market.
