Increasing prices dominate the conversation in the current landscape of exports, not just for apples, or even just fresh produce, says Mohamed Marawan, managing director of Polish apple exporter Sarafruit: "The conflict in the Middle East has severely affected the stability of the market. As there has not been any stabilization to let the market breathe. Buying fresh produce, not just apples in general, has become more expensive for consumers. Prices for the produce are higher, but as the transportation costs increase in general, these costs in turn affect the prices of everything in the world."
Although the government helped out Polish exporters during the energy crisis a few years ago, there has not been any talk of any aid, so far, Marawan states. "Up until this point in time, I haven't heard anything about any government aid in Poland so far, but in all honesty, the government has always stood near developing growers and exporters, by making funds available to them and helping where they can. About the current crisis going on, though, there has not been any word yet. We're currently in the final months of the season anyway. As to my expectations and estimations, I believe the overall available apple crop in Poland, which is stored in cooling chambers, to be around 1.1 million tons."
© SaraFruit
According to Marawan, Poland is also at a severe disadvantage when exporting to Egypt, especially against the largest competitor: "In Egypt, there are a lot of apples coming in from Italy, as they are logistically close together, which means the cost of transportation is lower than when they would buy from Poland. When we export, we use third parties for the ports, and this comes with expenses that impact the Polish apple prices in the Egyptian market. Italian apples can be exported from Italy to Egypt directly. Polish exporters use the Italian port to export to Egypt, so the cost of transport from Poland to that port is completely extra compared to the Italian alternative, which explains the higher costs of our apples."
The conflict in the Middle East has also resulted in the Egyptian currency dropping in value. "Prices in Egypt, in general, are a bit sensitive at the moment, as the Egyptian Pound has lost value against the Euro. At the moment, the rate has increased by 6 to 7 EGP against the Euro due to the conflict in the Middle East, which means the Egyptians are now paying more for imported apples. We're actually supplying them to our contractor in Egypt, as we have an agreement for the supermarket. Therefore, we have to continue exporting to them, and the final stretch of the season looks to be very slow going, as availability isn't the same as it was last year. So, export volumes will be very small in the last stretch of the season," Marawan concludes.
For more information:
Mohamed Marawan
Sarafruit
Tel: +48 53 793 51 55
[email protected]
www.sarafruit.eu
