After the relatively unexpected Egyptian season for green garlic had ended, Egyptian growers and exporters were surprised by the huge demand for dry garlic. Demand for dry garlic has risen all over the world, with the exception of Spain and China, as China has its own supply of garlic and Spain has a season that runs later than the one in Egypt.
“We were storing more than 1,000 tons for customers, who had confirmed their orders before the season for dry garlic had started. We thought it would be enough to cover any additional orders, but it wasn’t,” says Ahmed of the Egyptian company Stars of Export.
Stars of Export received a lot of requests for both dry white and red garlic. In order to provide for these new orders, they need to buy an additional 2,000 tons volume of garlic from their farmers and suppliers. Such an amount is quite difficult to come by, as the current prices are very high. There is also a need to first supply their older contracts.
According to Ahmed, the rise in demand is typical for the current market. The price for Chinese garlic is very high, while the Chinese crops in this part of the season have turned old. There are also some markets like Australia and Taiwan that have outright banned the import of Chinese garlic. Egypt has managed to gain market access to these countries and Egyptian exporters have encountered a high demand for new garlic.
Egyptian garlic has some distinct advantages over Chinese garlic. For one thing, Egyptian garlic is bigger. Chinese garlic sizes range from 40 to 60, while those from Egypt range from 40 to 80. Markets like Australia and Switzerland have only shown interest in sizes of 65 of over.
Another advantage is the price. Markets like Indonesia, Malaysia and the Middle Eastern region consume large volumes of garlic, yet aren’t willing to accept the high price of Chinese garlic.
The surge in demand for Egyptian dry garlic has also had an effect on the prices in Egypt itself. As Ahmed puts it, prices are going crazy. “This even goes for our second rate garlic, of which the export is mainly geared towards sectors that process garlic for artificial flavors. I think there are huge opportunities to be had during this season, which should last until October. This goes especially for those markets that stopped importing from China.”
Stars of Export had its own facilities for the drying of garlic. “We prefer to do this ourselves, instead of buying fully dried garlic from other suppliers. This is our way of guaranteeing the best possible quality for our product,” says Ahmed. This year, his company has installed a new sorting machine and started to make use of recyclable mesh bags for the packing of onions and garlic.
In contrast to the strong season for dry garlic, the Egyptian season for green garlic has been marred by a decrease in demand. As the volumes and prices are similar to last year, the lack of demand for green garlic has diminished sales for Egyptian exporters and growers. “We’re not very happy with the season for green garlic. We started at the end of January and finished before Easter. The demand of last season was stronger than in this one. We’re not really certain what caused this lack of demand. Some clients mentioned the market prices are just the same as last year,” says Export Manager Mai Yassin.
Yassin added that there really isn’t anything to be done about it. “We’re trying to let the market absorb more garlic by adjusting our pricing or by using better packaging. But in the end we have a limit to how much we can reduce our brand or how much we can lower our prices.”
During the last weeks of the season, fresh garlic was being sold for €1.50 to €1.90 per kilo (ex works). The lack of demand for green garlic really became an issue at the end of this year’s season.
However, Stars of Export has also found a silver lining to these adverse market conditions for green garlic. The company has managed to tap into new export markets like Switzerland and Eastern Europe, which compensated for the lack of demand elsewhere.
The company has its own farm and storage facilities. Stars of Export won’t be storing a lot of fresh garlic and is going to focus a bit more on dry garlic. Though Egypt also imports some fresh garlic from countries like China, Yassin mentions that these volumes are small due to import tariffs. “Thanks to our government, the competition from foreign garlic is limited.”
For more information:
Ahmed Adel
Stars of Export
Tel:00201110121738
Email: ahmed@starsofexport.com
www.starsofexport.com
“We were storing more than 1,000 tons for customers, who had confirmed their orders before the season for dry garlic had started. We thought it would be enough to cover any additional orders, but it wasn’t,” says Ahmed of the Egyptian company Stars of Export.
Stars of Export received a lot of requests for both dry white and red garlic. In order to provide for these new orders, they need to buy an additional 2,000 tons volume of garlic from their farmers and suppliers. Such an amount is quite difficult to come by, as the current prices are very high. There is also a need to first supply their older contracts.
According to Ahmed, the rise in demand is typical for the current market. The price for Chinese garlic is very high, while the Chinese crops in this part of the season have turned old. There are also some markets like Australia and Taiwan that have outright banned the import of Chinese garlic. Egypt has managed to gain market access to these countries and Egyptian exporters have encountered a high demand for new garlic.
Egyptian garlic has some distinct advantages over Chinese garlic. For one thing, Egyptian garlic is bigger. Chinese garlic sizes range from 40 to 60, while those from Egypt range from 40 to 80. Markets like Australia and Switzerland have only shown interest in sizes of 65 of over.
Another advantage is the price. Markets like Indonesia, Malaysia and the Middle Eastern region consume large volumes of garlic, yet aren’t willing to accept the high price of Chinese garlic.
The surge in demand for Egyptian dry garlic has also had an effect on the prices in Egypt itself. As Ahmed puts it, prices are going crazy. “This even goes for our second rate garlic, of which the export is mainly geared towards sectors that process garlic for artificial flavors. I think there are huge opportunities to be had during this season, which should last until October. This goes especially for those markets that stopped importing from China.”
Stars of Export had its own facilities for the drying of garlic. “We prefer to do this ourselves, instead of buying fully dried garlic from other suppliers. This is our way of guaranteeing the best possible quality for our product,” says Ahmed. This year, his company has installed a new sorting machine and started to make use of recyclable mesh bags for the packing of onions and garlic.
In contrast to the strong season for dry garlic, the Egyptian season for green garlic has been marred by a decrease in demand. As the volumes and prices are similar to last year, the lack of demand for green garlic has diminished sales for Egyptian exporters and growers. “We’re not very happy with the season for green garlic. We started at the end of January and finished before Easter. The demand of last season was stronger than in this one. We’re not really certain what caused this lack of demand. Some clients mentioned the market prices are just the same as last year,” says Export Manager Mai Yassin.
Yassin added that there really isn’t anything to be done about it. “We’re trying to let the market absorb more garlic by adjusting our pricing or by using better packaging. But in the end we have a limit to how much we can reduce our brand or how much we can lower our prices.”
During the last weeks of the season, fresh garlic was being sold for €1.50 to €1.90 per kilo (ex works). The lack of demand for green garlic really became an issue at the end of this year’s season.
However, Stars of Export has also found a silver lining to these adverse market conditions for green garlic. The company has managed to tap into new export markets like Switzerland and Eastern Europe, which compensated for the lack of demand elsewhere.
The company has its own farm and storage facilities. Stars of Export won’t be storing a lot of fresh garlic and is going to focus a bit more on dry garlic. Though Egypt also imports some fresh garlic from countries like China, Yassin mentions that these volumes are small due to import tariffs. “Thanks to our government, the competition from foreign garlic is limited.”
For more information:
Ahmed Adel
Stars of Export
Tel:00201110121738
Email: ahmed@starsofexport.com
www.starsofexport.com