The Dutch company Alston Foods has started importing sweet potatoes from Egypt again. Pomegranates from that country will follow in two weeks. “The quality of the Beauregard sweet potatoes is looking good this year. The same is true for the Wonderful pomegranates,” says founder Haydy Shahin, who started the company with Sameh El-Sherif in 2015. “A box of 6 kilograms of sweet potatoes is 5.25 euro. In total, we export 15 containers of sweet potatoes per month, about 400 tonnes. Of all the fruit and vegetables, practically everything comes from Egypt. Including our sweet potatoes, which arrive at our warehouse in Rotterdam after 11 days at sea.”
Sweet potatoes from Alston Foods.
Pomegranates
Although the pomegranate season won’t start for another two weeks, quality is looking good, according to Haydy. “We supply the pomegranates in crates of 4.5 kilograms,” says the woman behind Alston Foods. “We don’t yet know what the price of the pomegranates will be, because we’ll only start them in two weeks. When import can start, we’ll ship about 11 to 12 containers per week. When the products arrive at our warehouse in Rotterdam, they’ll subsequently be sent further into the Netherlands, but also to surrounding countries such as Belgium, the UK and Germany. That way the Egyptian sweet potatoes and pomegranates end up throughout Europe.”
For more information:
Alston Foods B.V
Overwegwacher 4, 3034 KG, Rotterdam
The Netherlands
T: +31 (0) 68 778 73 50