It’s been a challenging year according to Mohamed Marawan, owner of Polish apple exporter Sarafruit. He feels that the issues of 2023 will carry over in the new year: “In my opinion the year 2023 wasn’t positive for all who are involved in this apple business, as the global environmental problems, the ongoing war in Ukraine, the ongoing war in Palestine, economic and inflation problems in Egypt have been very large factors that are still ongoing. We can only hope that 2024 will be a much better year.”
Marawan states that it’s been tough to find new export markets for their product, and the blockade of the Red Sea made things even more difficult. “Looking at our year for apples, the biggest challenge was opening new doors and markets for our apples. Once this challenge was taken care of, a new one popped up as it was difficult to find good quality apples. We needed the quality for the longer transit times and as if that wasn’t enough of a challenge, the blockade at the Red Sea made things even more complicated. Transit times increased and freight rates added even further to the transportation costs.”
As demand has been slow this year, no markets has actually jumped out as a major opportunity for the Polish apples last year, Marawan explains: “In 2023, we focused on the investment for our new facility, which is being built at the moment, and as such we’re still in the process of reaching that goal. However, if it comes to the sales of our apples during 2023, we are not fully satisfied. It was a generally hard year and apple exporters had to get used to a hard reality. Looking at the good markets, I’d say that all of our markets, being Egypt, Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Colombia and India, were pretty equal in their potential. Sales were very slow and none of the mentioned countries was a clear favourite.”
Although apple prices are higher right now, there’s no clear indication that these prices will hold until the end of the season. Some apples in Poland are still being stored, but the high prices are having an impact on the demand, Marawan says. “The apple prices are higher than last years, but we don’t know what will be the situation later on, as there are still apples stored in cooling chambers. Meanwhile, demand is slow due to these high prices as well as the global economic situation. So, looking at the big picture at this moment don’t give the full story of what could be the result for the full season. Looking at 2024, we’re aiming to finish our new facility, take parts in some expeditions, build a strong network and search for new possibilities and opportunities, such as new export markets.”
For more information:
Mohamed Marawan
Sarafruit
Tel: +48 537935155
Email: [email protected]
www.sarafruit.eu