Last year, the Egyptian company Agro Alex Group Co., devoted to the production and export of premium fresh fruit and vegetables, started the construction of a new packing station for the processing and packing of citrus fruits. “Work at the new station just started this season. We have imported the sorting machines from Spain and are producing about 8 containers per day,” explains Export Director Muhammad Galal Fayed.The firm has made a considerable investment in this BRC certified packing station, which will make it possible to implement the same high quality standards that were already in place for its onions and potatoes, with all products certified by GlobalGAP. It arrives in time for this year’s citrus campaign, as “We have recently finished with the Navel and have just started with Valencia oranges,” says Muhammad.
The new facilities are located in Kom-Hamada, El-Behira, North Egypt. “All packing stations are now in one place, for potatoes, onions and oranges. Controlling quality is our greatest priority, and to this end, we have very high scale agriculture engineering. In Egypt, there are many exporters in this field, so we try to introduce innovative aspects to offer extra value to our customers since these are the company policies placed by the founder and the chairman of our group of companies Mr. Khaled Abdel Wahed El-Bessoumy who has vast experience in this field because Agro Alex Group is a family business company” states Muhammad.
Attached to the packing house, two large cold storage facilities have also been constructed with a capacity for about 6000 pallets. Muhammad says that “for the future, we plan to install a new system to be able to fit even more pallets in the cold store, as well as a highly advanced laboratory to analyse all quality aspects, such as brix and acidity levels of the citrus fruits”
An important goal for the firm is to increase its export volumes. Muhammad explains that “We are currently exporting about 50 containers per week of Valencia oranges. We have contracts in Russia and Ukraine, and we are shipping to the Gulf Countries and the South East Asia region. We are also trying to expand into new markets and establish new connections with customers in Europe.”
A good motivation to diversify is the current situation in the Russian market, which represents about 50% of the company’s business. “We hope things will improve, as Russia is very important for us.” explains Muhammad.
In terms of actual growth, Muhammad expects export volumes to increase by approximately 60% compared to two seasons ago. “This season we expect to ship between 15 and 20 thousand tonnes of Oranges (compared to 10 thousand with the old station), also ship 40 thousands tonnes of potatoes and onions to the European markets, Russia, Ukraine and also Gulf countries and as long as the weather and the political situation in Egypt remain normal, we believe we can achieve that.”
Agro Alex Group’s Valencia oranges are normally packed in 15 kilo telescopic cartons, but can contain between 42 and 125 pieces per carton.
Contact details:
Muhammad Fayed
Export Manager
Agro Alex Group Co.
info@agroalexgroup.com
Author: Juan Zea Estellés / Yzza Ibrahim