The Tunisian strawberry export campaign began in late January and will last until May, with stable volumes compared to the previous season, said Mohamed Sadok of the exporter CarthagoExpo.
"Our volumes have remained stable compared to the previous season, despite the shortage of water. Like many countries of the Mediterranean region, we witnessed significantly less rainfall, but we, fortunately, have very rich groundwater reserves. The majority of strawberry growers are producing more and more in greenhouses and we are seeing an improvement in yield."
The most popular varieties of strawberries, according to the exporter, are Fortuna, Savana, and California, the foreign demand for strawberries comes mainly from the Gulf countries: Saudi Arabia, Oman and UAE "The Gulf countries are a traditional market for Tunisian fruits. An important part of our exports also go to Europe."
This month will also mark the beginning of the campaign of other fruits "The fruits of the season also include apricots, which will soon be available, and for which we have the varieties Mokando, Tirynthos, Fardao, and Bayoudhi. We will also have Nectarine, Red Too, and Sweet Cap peaches. Later, around May, we will start exporting cherries and plums, and Sentinel watermelons of 9-12 kg. Finally, seedless grapes will close the ball in June."
At the level of prices, the exporter accuses an increase due to transport costs "the cost of air transport has increased from 1 USD per kg to 2.5 in the last two years, the cost of sea transport has increased by 40%."
Sadok concludes: "Our geographical location, very close to Europe and the Gulf countries, allows us to deliver fresh fruit in very good quality. At CarthagoExpo we have our packing station, allowing us to adapt to the needs of our customers in terms of weight and presentation, but above all it allows us to control our costs and to offer good prices for fresh fruit of good quality."
For more information:
Mohamed Sadok
Carthagoexpo
Tel: +216 21 143 905
Email: [email protected]