The Egyptian grape season is still a month and a few weeks off, but so far it’s shaping up to be a satisfying one. Weather has been great, which in turn will lead to high quality grapes. The one unknown factor that could spoil the party, is the corona virus.
Egyptian grape and pomegranate producer and exporter FinBi is looking towards the upcoming grape season with a fair share of optimism. May Salem, export manager for FinBi, feels conditions are very good to make a successful season happen: “Lately the weather has been really good, and we’re looking at 28 degrees Celsius in Egypt right now. I think this season will have high quality grapes for high prices. For our company, we’re always looking to improve our operation, and have been successful at increasing production this season. So although I can’t speak for Egypt as a whole, I know we’ll have more volumes available than last year.”
The end of the Indian grape season is also being welcomed by Salem. “This year the Indian season will be finished earlier than last season. This is good for us, as last season we only had a two-to-three week window to export all of our grapes before the Spanish season started. This year I expect we’ll have at least a full month without too much competition. We export mostly to European countries like Germany, France, Holland and Spain and these countries are likely to import Spanish grapes as soon as that season starts.”
FinBi attended Fruit Logistica in Berlin, which was a success for them: “The weeks before the event and during the event, we got in touch with a lot of potential importers. The great thing is that these companies will be visiting or have already visited our farms to check on our operations. So they’re really serious about working together.”
Salem is slightly worried about the corona-virus, but hopes Egypt will be fine. “Luckily the weather is currently very warm, so it would be hard for such a virus to be active in our region. However our Health-department is on it and everyone is very cautious about the virus. I don’t think it will affect us that much in Egypt, although you never know what the situation in Europe will be!” Salem concludes.
For more information:
May Salem
FinBi for Land Reclamation and Agriculture Development
Tel: +202 37495616
Email: may@natesngrapes.com
www.natesngrapes.com