Of the Israeli company's total export volume of 25,000 tonnes, 4,000t are programmed for the UK, and this is broken down across a number of varieties, as follows: Ettinger – 6,500t; Fuerte – 4,500t; Hass – 7,500t; Pinkerton – 3,000t; and Ardith – 1,500t.

Carmel is packing in 30-40cm cartons, with approximately 4kg net per carton. Two lines will be available, Ecofresh – packed in green cartons with red corners – and regular – in pale green cartons with blue corners.

The majority of product will be shipped on Agrexco vessels to Marseilles, then on to UK customers by refrigerated truck. Gabi Naamani, product manager for Agrexco Tel Aviv said: 'Our experience shows this route to be the most efficient and the fastest. It allows us greater flexibility, enabling us to react immediately to any requests or changes in the market. We also have a quality control manager on site, who alerts us to any problems and can divert the right quality to the right market.' Quality control checks are operated at various stages of the supply chain. The fruit is grown according to strict Ecofresh guidelines. Additional inspections are made in the packhouses, where the ISO 9002, BRC and BVQI specifications are checked. The product is controlled again in the Israeli ports and checked for the final time in Marseilles prior to loading on the trucks.

'Maintaining quality is the key factor that enables us to survive in a tough market,' adds Naamani, 'Frequent checks help us achieve our goal of supplying customers with full traceability for each carton.'