Due to the unprofitable garlic season last year, acreage has been lowered by a significant amount this year. On top of that, growers and exporters are doing what they can to lower the costs, as higher prices for garlic could reduce demand.
Mai Yassin, export manager at Stars of Export, says Egypt will have lower acreage for the cultivation of garlic this year: “When it comes to garlic in Egypt, the cultivated area is 20 per cent lower than last year. This is due to the losses that growers experienced last season, as well as the increase in input costs in general. Think the costs of labor, packaging materials and the still, very expensive shipping costs.”
Although there is still demand at the moment, higher prices could lead to lower demand in the European market, Yassin explains. “The demand for garlic is present, but each season comes with its own challenges, and its own ups and downs. We always try to cope and right now we’re trying to manage the costs and lower our expenses as much as we can. The European inflation will surely have an effect on our garlic season. We expect that prices will be higher in general and demand will be lower as a result. This is just a guess, though. Nobody knows if demand will actually be lower over the entire season.”
Yassin expects that exporters will be more careful with their shipments this season as to not lower the prices below the input costs: “The last season’s losses and the current Euro value should be a reason to make all the exporters ship certain quantities wisely. Therefore, I don’t think we’ll see a large push of volumes to the market this season.”
For more information:
Mai Yassin
Stars of Export
Tel: +20 111 012 1741
Email: export@starsofexport.com
www.starsofexport.com