As the only Egyptian fruit product permitted into China at the moment, the country's orange venture in the Chinese market now faces fierce resistance from established local and South African players. At www.freshfruitportal.com, we speak with Mohamed Eldosouky, EGCT president for agricultural products - the only African representative with a stand at this year's iFresh Shanghai Conference - on how his company and the Egyptian orange industry is dealing with this tough situation.

""As we all know, Egyptian oranges are known globally for their high quality, but even so, we still offer a reasonable price  which is slightly higher than that of the local oranges. But our quality is way much better than our local competitors," says Eldosouky.

To showcase the fruit, Eldosouky brought four varieties to Shanghai: Navel, Baladi, Sweet and Valencia oranges. The season spans from November-December through to February-March, which means the fruit goes head-to-head with local Chinese competitors.

Generally speaking, Egyptian oranges are larger than Chinese oranges in size as well.

Mohamed Eldosouky

When asked about Egyptian oranges' competitive advantages over South African product, Eldosouky highlights the relative geographical proximity of Egypt to China, as well as cost efficiency .

"Egyptian oranges list lower prices than their South African competitors, partially because we are closer to China in terms of distance, which not only lowers the transportation cost but also guarantees better freshness upon arrival in China."

"At present, our company's oranges are sold exclusively through Walmart, but we are reaching out to more distributors and retailers, especially those who are engaged in e-commerce."

In addition to the four sample varieties of Egyptian oranges, Eldosouky also brought two types of fruit products to iFresh Shanghai that have yet to obtain import permission from the Chinese government - Egyptian grapes and pomegranates.

"There's a high demand for these two Egyptian products, but we are still negotiating with the Chinese government specific terms of the market entry agreement. As of now, there's a large gray area of underground distribution channels for these fruits.

"We hope that the Chinese government could take heed of this phenomenon and expedite the legalization of importing Egyptian grapes and pomegranates in China. "

In an effort to familiarize himself with the Chinese market, Eldosouky took a trip to Huang'guoshu in the southwestern Sichuan province to survey local orange markets on the ground.

"China is an enormous market, not only in terms of the volume, but also its domestic diversity. Our strategy is not about engaging in direct competition with Chinese products, but rather, we should focus on finding the right complementary position by deepening our understanding of this enormous diversity."

Alongside oranges, grapes and pomegranates, watermelons are another main export product of EGCT in horticulture. When asked about the prospect of exporting Egyptian watermelons to China, Eldosouky says it is unlikely anytime soon, due to technological and market constraints.

"Watermelons only have 30 days before they go rotten, so the actual shelf space is only about a week. In other words, watermelons are a rather fragile type of fruit product.

"I must say, our current transportation technology is not ready for this kind of demand. Plus, watermelons are considered  among the cheaper fruits in the Chinese market. Understandably, the profit margin of exporting watermelons to China is going to nothing more than meager."

www.freshfruitportal.com