The dry garlic season in Egypt has run its course and it has been a pretty good one. New markets open every year for Egyptian dry garlic, meaning each new season comes with new opportunities. Demand is also growing, as Brazil for the first time opened its doors for the dry garlic from Egypt as well.
The season for dry garlic in Egypt has recently ended, as the quality goes down after August. It’s been a great season for Stars of Export, an Egyptian exporter that specializes in sweet potatoes, spring onions and dry garlic. “We started the harvest of green garlic in March, after which the drying process starts. The first container is shipped around the end of April, the last one leaves the port near the end of August,” Mai Yassin, export manager for the company, explains.
“The past season was really a great one. Every year, we see new countries opening up for Egypt, which in turn results in higher demand. My brother Amro Yassin is our general manager and he focuses on each step in the process to ensure the highest quality we can provide.”
On the left is Amro Yassin, on the right Mai Yassin.
This year, the Brazilian market opened up for Egypt. This meant that for the last two months of the dry garlic season, there was suddenly an extra market to export to. “The situation was crazy as due to the high demand we received a lot of orders. However I advised these clients that the quality isn’t good enough right now, as we’re already nearing October. We did send them a container or two so they can see wat kind of produce we work with,” Yassin explains.
“A lot of Brazilian importers have bought garlic from other Egyptian traders though, as they dropped their price. As a result a lot of damaged and poor quality garlic arrived there. I hope for the future, the Brazilian importers will go to companies who have experience and not get seduced by very low prices from unknown traders.”
The demand for dry garlic is increasing in other areas as well, Yassin noticed. “The demand curve is going up steadily. Last year Taiwan opened its markets, this year it was Brazil. However we already have steady demand from Poland, Italy, Australia and France. Prices were high in the beginning of the season, but have dropped since. This is quite normal, as it happened last season as well,” Yassin said.
"We're doing everything we can to increase the quality of our garlic even further, as we encourage the small farmers of our village and neighbourhod to enter a contract with us. We take all their production and we educate them on the European standards we are looking for. Our agronomists regularly follow up and visit their fields to ensure the best quality is obtained."
For more information:
Mai Yassin
Stars of Export
Tel: +20 111 012 1741
Email: export@starsofexport.com
www.starsofexport.com