We do not buy on the spot. We sign at planting and let the year do its work. This is the page where the year speaks for itself — what is on the boat this week, what leaves the packhouse next, what we are watching three weeks out. Cairo morning to Haarlem evening, Sunday through Thursday, the desk is open.
Fortuna and Festival, picked Sunday and Monday at low brix to survive the nine-day reefer. The closing containers of a season that opened on the 27th of January. After this, we do not promise fresh strawberry until November.
Violetta di Chioggia and Spinoso Sardo grown under Egyptian sun since the Pharaohs. Cut early Monday, hydro-cooled at the Wadi Natrun packhouse before 11 a.m., on the reefer by Tuesday night. Heads firm, bracts tight.
Cut at first light Wednesday in Ismailia, on the MS-MartinAir freighter out of Cairo by 21:00, on the AMS pallet line Thursday 06:40. Boxed for Albert Heijn private label and three regional wholesalers.
The first cut of the second flush. Picked Friday evening to avoid the heat, brought to Damietta cold-store before midnight, on the Maersk Cleo Saturday morning. Last fresh bean before the season pauses for the summer heat.
The first containers of the 2026 Aswan crop, harvested in March, sun-dried six weeks, graded last week in Qena. Colour deep, acidity bright, moisture 11.4 %. SMETA-audited co-op.
The first containers of Hamawy and Canino. Trial pallet of 800 kg goes by air on the same day so a Rotterdam buyer can taste before the reefer lands. We have moved this two weeks earlier than 2025 because the Minya spring ran warm.
Wonderful and Manfalouty processed in November and December, held in Borg El Arab cold store at –22 °C, now moving on the Westerschelde reefer service to a Dutch yoghurt buyer who needs 14 tonnes a month.
Egypt's beloved jew's mallow. The first cut of the 2026 crop from Sharqia, on a refrigerated truck via Alexandria–Genoa–Rotterdam. Destined for two Egyptian-grocer accounts in Amsterdam-West and Den Haag.
Siwa harvest begins mid-June for premium-grade Medjool. Sherif flies down Sunday 14 June to walk the El-Sherouk farm with Mouneer and confirm the sample lots. Expect first containers Wadi-side mid-July.
One Westland buyer has asked for a 480 kg air-freight trial of Zebda from the Ismailia farms. We are watching brix and dry-matter. If the numbers hold we open the lane for the season; if not, we wait until Keitt in late July.
The other way: Dutch seed potato. The Spunta and Hermes orders for autumn-planted Egyptian farms are being lifted from HZPC and Agrico stores in Friesland. Containers leave Rotterdam in early August so the Beheira growers can plant in October.
Each row is a crop. Each cell is a month. The darker the bar, the deeper into peak. The thin outlined cell is this week.