The grape season in Egypt has started and the season is not without its challenges. Weather messed up the export schedule, but luckily this gave the Indian grapes some time to be cleared from the market. And although there are plenty of new interesting markets, the lack of available air cargo makes entering these new markets more difficult.
The grape season in Egypt looks very promising this year, says Shahira Fouad, marketing manager for Egyptian exporting company Oriental Fruits. “The current grape season is showing a lot of potential, but also comes with challenges. We’re expanding varieties in the Asian market, while trying to increase our market share in that region. We’ve been allowed to send Egyptian grapes to China since 2017, but now also have trade agreements with Canada since June 2018 and Uruguay since September of 2018.”
There are more challenges ahead for Oriental Fruits though, as expanding in Asia is not the biggest issue: “The biggest challenges for the cultivation of grapes is to meet market needs and requirements in the high potential markets like China and Indonesia. Another problem we’re trying to tackle is how to maintain the longest shelf life for such perishable products. Additionally, a challenge is the shortage of air shipping options to new markets that require direct cargo flights to ensure a travel time of less than three days.”
“Last year we slowly started exporting produce to China, but our main markets are in Europe, Indonesia, Hong Kong and Malaysia. We’re also working to expand our network worldwide with trusted wholesale and supply chain partners.,” Fouad explains. “To serve China as well as other Asian countries we formed a group of growers of targeted varieties. We export Black Star, Crimson, Red Glob, Black Magic, Autumn Royal and white ARRA 15.”
A company should always strive to improve, and Fouad feels Oriental Fruits is definitely making progress: “We are improving ourselves year after year, in all aspects that we can. We’re growing new varieties, enhancing the packaging, and try to satisfy our customers’ needs by offering air shipments at a very competitive price. Oriental teams are made up of highly qualified business professionals skilled in foreign trade, who understand the needs of our customers and our growers. With the ever-increasing demands on quality, traceability and certifications, rigid controls and frequent checks are in place to ensure that every demand is observed.”
According to Fouad the goal that Oriental Fruit set for itself years ago is to be able to deliver in line with the international quality standards: “Achieving this goal led to achieving another very important result; customer satisfaction. Thanks to these standards we are targeting to export 1200 tons of colored and white grapes of premium quality, and that’s just for the Asian and African market. I think the prices will be better than last year, thanks to a lack of availability. Prices will remain competitive, however.” Fouad concludes.
