"Good prospects for Egyptian grapes, but orange market is outright bad"

The market situation for Egyptian Valencia oranges is disastrous. This is Omar Ehab of the Egyptian producer, Spica's, opinion. They have a warehouse in the Dutch city of Rotterdam. "The first months of the year were very good. But, since April, the demand has all but collapsed. I expect that warmer weather to be particularly detrimental to citrus consumption. Our prices are between EUR5 and EUR6,50 per 15kg box. This is for category I oranges. It is even more worrying that the demand is completely lacking."

At Spica, the Egyptian onion season has started in earnest. The company expects good market opportunities for red, Egyptian onions. Spica's onion assortment consists mainly of red onions. The company focuses on sales in the European market. Germany is their most important buyer. Spica cultivates its own vegetables and fruit in Egypt. They have an area of 250 hectares. They want to increase their volume in the coming years.

The first Egyptian grapes will arrive on the market within a few weeks. "We expect an average production. We offer the Thompson, Flame and Early Flame varieties. I expect that we can start at a price level of between EUR8,50 and 10,00 per box. This is just an indication", says Omar Abdelatty. He hopes the season will begin better than last year. "Then there were still a lot of Indian grapes on the market. The season began disastrously. Now the Indian and South American grapes' quality is beginning to fail. The prospects of the Egyptian season is looking quite a lot better."

For more information:
Omar Ehab
Spica BV
Phone: +31 (0) 10 7997437
Mobile: +31 (0) 64 0116303
omar@spicabv.nl
www.spicabv.nl