Fresh All Green chairman says its attention to detail has helped position the exporter as a dependable fruit supplier
“Fresh produce never stands still – and neither do we,” declares Hussein Hassan, chairman of Egyptian supplier Fresh All Green, as he considers its prospects for another export season. “While some people track markets on screens, we track them in fields, coldstorage rooms, packhouses and cargo schedules.”
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In the past few months, the group has expanded its sourcing programme, as it focuses more and more on serving customers in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. “This includes expanding grower partnerships in strawberries, table grapes, a moderate new vegetable programme and, last but not least, understanding the blueberry production process and trialling it in Egypt,” Hassan explains.
Improved field-level quality controls and further investment in post-harvest handling have broadened the company’s horizons, he adds. And there are plans for the further development of cold chain processes. “We have refined our export strategy to more diversified and niche markets, the aim being to move from purely annual transactional exports to more structured, long-term customer relationships.”
For berries, the current export campaign has been a positive one, with steady demand from Europe even before the recent weather issues that occurred in Spain and Morocco. Interest from the Middle East is apparently also increasing.
“Egyptian berries continue to benefit from their seasonal window and more stable climate conditions especially in the winter and early spring periods, when supply from Europe is limited due to climate instability,” Hassan notes. “As well as favourable climate conditions, Egypt offers competitive production costs, availability of labour, and deeper understanding of exportable, high-quality varieties.”
He does still regard the market as highly competitive and price-sensitive, however. “At the same time, buyers are increasingly focused on consistency, food safety compliance, and shelf-life performance, not just price. As a result, exporters that can deliver stable quality and reliable programmes are performing better than those relying on spot-market sales.”
Fresh All Green has in effect positioned itself as a ‘boutique grower’ of select, high-quality varieties, Hassan tells Eurofruit. It’s also a company with a commitment to people, he argues, as well as to long-term commercial partnerships based on reliability and consistency.
And while on occasion it must contend with logistics delays, rising freight costs, and strict European compliance standards, partnerships appear to have brought it success through better cold-chain management, effective documentation, and responsible use of resources.
As a result of that hard-won resilience, Hassan concludes, there is plenty of growth potential for Fresh All Green.
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