Nile Tradehas been exporting Polish apples to the Middle East for the past 3 years andwhat this experience has brought him is that there is a lot of misunderstandingout there from Polish producers about this up and coming ‘new’ market.
“The MiddleEastern customer is not to be painted with the same brush. There are manydifferent tastes and preferences, along with specifications regarding varietiesand quality standards, which varies from country to country. Really knowing themarket you are dealing with is key and vital to success,” said CEO ElsayedAbdalla.
Abdallashared that his company’s exports to Egypt start with the first transport ofsmall containers, but grew so quickly that they were able to export more than100 containers, each containing 21 tons, within 5 months.
“ManyPolish producers have it wrong, thinking that the market is only interested inRed Delicious or Red Prince. Nothing can be further from the truth, just lastyear my company exported 65 containers of Idared, along with Gloster, Elise andJonagored. There is also interest in Red Jonaprince and Golden Delicious.Requirements vary depending on the region.”
The trickis finding the right customer for the appropriate market.
Knowledge and preparation key
Abdullabelieves that the only way to establish long term business in new markets iswith a good start and a good reputation. Consumers in the Arab world buy withtheir eyes and appearance is everything. The apples are sorted into threeclasses; A, B,C, and there is additional classification within these classesbased of colour concentration of 70, 50 and 30% blush. The apples must be firm(at least 5 kg), have a brix of 12 or more and have no damage to the skin orflesh.
“Unfortunately,many growers and traders jump into the new markets in Arab countries withouttaking the time to find out the specific requirements of the customer. Aspecific problem I have encountered many times is that Polish producers aretrying to get the same premium prices as apples being imported from SouthTyrol, which are still superior in quality. They also need to remember thatItalians have been present in the market for a very long time and have built uptheir good reputation over many years. Polish apples are the ‘new kid on theblock’ and producers need to be patient and give it time." said Abdalla.
Transportationalso remains an issue for exports from Poland. It takes 21 days by sea and landfor apples to reach Egypt, 28-29 days for Dubai, 21 days for Jordan and 14 daysfor Israel Haifa. This is another reason why it is absolutely crucial for apples to be of the highest quality when preparinga consignment for export. Transportation temperatures need to be around 1-2degrees Celsius, and equipped with dataloggers measuring temperature andhumidity. Nile Trade insures every batch sent for export.
More demand in Egypt than Polish production
Egypt is acountry made up of 100 million people which means that even if Poland was tosend all of its production, there still wouldn’t be enough to supply demand.
There arealso lots of opportunities for growers in Western Europe.
“I have beenworking with contacts from several countries in Western Europe who have beenable to prepare large batches of uniform goods for my customers. There has beena lot of interest for varieties such as ‘Elstar’ and ‘Fuji’, grown in TheNetherlands and Belgium. Again, this contradicts the idea amongst Polishproducers that Arabs only like red and green apples. What I can say with 100% certainty is thatthey are not interested in the Champion (Szampion).” concluded Abdallah.
For more information:
Sayed Abdalla
Nile Trade
Tel: +48 730779431
Email: sayed.abd@wp.pl
www.niletradepoland.com