Table grapes from Egypt: High demand, scarce supply

Egyptian table grape season is under way. The competition on the market is fierce, the importer of Egyptian table grapes explains. Moreover, he says, the local producers have to struggle with immense heat: "On Wednesday and Thursday the temperature in the Egyptian fields reached around 46 to 47 degrees Celsius. It is perfectly understandable that at these temperatures the harvest workers could not work in the fields.“

These circumstances, as the importer explains, also cause problems on the dealers‘ side. "We are currently going through a difficult phase with the Egyptian table grapes. The demand is high but we don’t have enough merchandise to satisfy it.“

Not enough to satisfy the demand
The importer transports the table grapes by plane directly from Egypt. "Everyone cries for grapes but there is simply not enough to satisfy the demand. Moreover, the temperature affects the quality of the grapes,“ the dealer describes. "Some grapes die because of the heat."

Higher prices as a result of scarce supply
"The high demand and the scarce supply inevitably lead to higher prices of the Egyptian grapes on the market," the importer explains. "A bowl of grapes currently costs around 3.49 Euro in the food sector. Normally at this time the prices are one Euro less than that. Also the fact that we have to transport the merchandise by plane makes the grapes more expensive.“