Currently, the trade of Polish apples is slowing down, both to European markets as well as the Egyptian one, says Mohamed Marawan, managing director of Polish apple exporter Sarafruit: "Availability for the apples is growing as the growers are opening their cooling chambers, which also means more varieties are available for export. Demand for Polish apples in Europe and Egypt is slowing down somewhat. We think this has to do with the holiday season in Europe, as well as some festive days in Egypt as well. For Egypt, we're also waiting for the apples in their local cooling chambers to be depleted, at which point there will be room for importing more volumes from Poland once again."
© SaraFruit
Although availability is better than it was, it's still not easy to find the right balance of quality and price for the procurement of apples, Marawan explains. "There is still the ongoing difficulty of being able to procure apples that are both of good quality and at a reasonable price that is acceptable to our clients. We're always trying to balance this out, to make sure both the growers and our clients are happy with the current situation. The prices are at a similar level to last year for some varieties, and for other varieties, the prices will be even lower as the trade has been slow since the holidays. We'll see in the following weeks if this situation will improve."
Polish apples do have a lot of aggressive competition in Egypt, the exporter emphasizes: "Actually, Italian apples are becoming more competitive in the Egyptian market, because of the prices for Gala and Golden apples, especially. Then there are apples from Lebanon, which are still present in the Egyptian market, which means the overall competition is very aggressive at the moment. However, in general we are doing good as the moment. The SaraFruit brand is being showcased on the cartons, meaning the awareness for our brand is ever increasing in both Egypt and Libya, as a quality product," Marawan concludes.
For more information:
Mohamed Marawan
Sarafruit
Tel: +48 537 935 155
[email protected]
www.sarafruit.eu
