Address
Blue mall - street 38 Third District, Fifth Settlement, New Cairo
Work Hours
Monday to Friday: 7AM - 7PM
Weekend: 10AM - 5PM
The Egyptian citrus season calendar for 2026/2027 opens with early Navel around the third week of October and closes with the last Valencia in June. What matters to a buyer is not the season length but the handover points, the two or three weeks where one variety is finishing and the next is not yet at full size. Programmes break at those joints more often than anywhere else.
Which variety is loading in each half-month
| Period | Main variety loading | Typical size range | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Late October | Early Navel | Counts 56 to 72 | Small volumes, often degreened |
| November | Navel at volume | Counts 48 to 72 | Natural colour from mid-month, peak freight demand |
| December | Navel plus Baladi | Counts 48 to 88 | Murcott mandarin opens late in the month |
| January | Navel tail, Murcott, Baladi | Counts 48 to 88 | Navel sizing drops as the crop empties |
| February | Handover to Valencia | Counts 64 to 88 | The tightest joint in the season |
| March to April | Valencia at volume | Counts 56 to 80 | Best combination of size, Brix and availability |
| May to June | Late Valencia | Counts 48 to 72 | Larger fruit, rising regreening risk on the peel |
Why February is the difficult month
Navel finishes on small counts, and the first Valencia is not yet carrying the sizes a retail programme is built on. Buyers who need a continuous 56 or 64 count through February should contract both varieties in advance rather than expecting the market to supply the gap on spot. Some programmes bridge it with Baladi, which holds size well and is priced below Navel in the same weeks.
Late Valencia and regreening
From May, warm nights can drive chlorophyll back into the peel of fruit still on the tree. This is regreening. The fruit is ripe, often sweeter than it was in March, but the skin carries a green cast at the stem end. It is a cosmetic issue, and it is worth agreeing a tolerance for it in the contract if you are buying into June. Colour handling before that point is covered in our note on degreening citrus.
Booking against the calendar
Reefer space out of Alexandria and Damietta tightens from the second week of November through January, when citrus, onion and potato programmes compete for the same boxes. Buyers loading in that window should have allocation confirmed by late September. Cross-crop availability for the rest of the year sits in the Egyptian produce export calendar 2026/2027.
PEI Trade ships Navel, Valencia, Baladi and Murcott in 15 kg telescopic cartons and 4 kg or 5 kg formats for Gulf retail, from Alexandria, Damietta and Sokhna on Incoterms 2020 FOB, CFR or CIF. To reserve 2026/2027 citrus allocation, send your variety, count, carton format and destination port to +20 10 9911 1918 on WhatsApp.
PEI Trade is the exporter, not a neutral reviewer. Dates reflect a normal season. A cool or late autumn shifts the opening by one to two weeks in either direction, so confirm current picking status before fixing a shipping date.