Belco to export iceberg lettuce

Years after abandoning the product after a small trial, Belco, an Egyptian exporter of fresh produce, has started up their iceberg lettuce program once again. Though Russia is currently their largest market for that product, the plan is to expand into Europe in the coming years.

“We invested in a vacuum cooler in order to resume exporting leafy vegetables,” said Amr El Beltagy, product manager for Belco. He explained that most international customers buying leafy greens require suppliers have a vacuum cooler in order to ensure the longest shelf life. The upgrade was expensive, but it distinguishes Belco from other exporters. With the necessary equipment and production, this is the first season Belco is shipping iceberg lettuce in large quantities.

“We have a large area we planted, and for the season,which runs from December through March, we planned to ship three containers of lettuce per week and so far the plan is working great,” said El Beltagy. “Our aim is to ship 60 containers for the season.” Belco's biggest customer is a Russian processor that uses lettuce for the food preparation industry. While it's a fortunate coincidence that Belco launched a program that largely serves the Russian market while opportunities for non-European shippers have increased in Russia, El Beltagy noted that their reach will have to extend beyond Russia to diversify the markets.