“It's become much easier to get supplies than before, considering how small the world has become,” said Mohammad Arjomandi of Pan Fresh. He noted that the market has developed into a very competitive landscape where certain products become especially popular.
“Apples, pears and citrus from North America are preferred, especially Red Delicious apples,” said Arjomandi. “We do buy Red Delicious from other countries, but the North American product is of the highest quality.” Logistics considerations are also factored in when deciding what to import. For example, although Chile and South Africa produce high-quality fruit in the Southern Hemisphere, the travel time between South Africa and the Middle East is less than that between the Middle East and Chile, so Pan Fresh typically opts for South African fruit over Chilean fruit. As for favoured varieties, Arjomandi said the region's consumers typically go for apples, citrus and bananas, though only bananas are ripened once they arrive, as the weather is usually enough to ripen other products like avocados and kiwis.
“Bananas are big in the winter and citrus is big in the summer,” said Arjomandi. “It's a big market, and having one of the region’s largest storage facilities with 45,000 pallet capacity, it places us at an advantage and helps us manoeuvre well in this market.”
For more information:
Mohammad Ali Arjomandi
Pan Fresh
Email: mohammad@panfresh.com
www.panfresh.com