Warm weather usually starts in May, favoring grapes’ ripening and sugar content. However this year it was delayed, thus delaying the grape season as well.

“We had to wait until June for brix levels to be high enough to harvest, a full month later than usual”, said Yasser El Sayed of Global Fruits in Egypt as reported by Freshplaza.com. “With such a delay, there’s the real danger that the Egyptian export season will be weakened by the Spanish and Italian seasons”.

“If the Spanish and Italian seasons are on time, we'll have price problems also because the shipping costs to Europe are lower for them”, El Sayed added. This could mean less Egyptian grapes in Europe this year, a trend which is already starting due to European market conditions.

“As we face less demand from our customers in Europe we’re forced to raise the share of the local market, despite the fact it is less profitable than export markets”, El Sayed explained. However  he hopes the late Egyptian season won’t add to that, and that the weather will work in their favour.

For more information, please visit: www.global-fruit.net