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Retail pack formats decide how Egyptian produce reaches the shelf, and they have to be agreed long before the first carton is ordered. A 4 kg loose carton, a 500 g punnet and a 1 kg girsac net are three different products with three different costs, three different minimum runs and three different lead times, even when the fruit inside them is identical. This page sets out the formats that Egyptian packhouses run for export, crop by crop.
Which retail pack format suits which crop
Format follows the fruit. Soft fruit needs a rigid punnet, citrus and onions travel in mesh, roots go in vented film, and large single fruit is trayed or flow-wrapped. The table below gives the formats Egyptian exporters run most often and the unit weights buyers ask for.
| Crop | Retail format | Unit weight | Master carton |
|---|---|---|---|
| Strawberry | Lidded PET punnet, vented base | 250 g or 500 g | 8 x 500 g or 10 x 250 g |
| Table grape | Punnet or vented poly bag | 500 g | 8 or 10 units in a 5 kg carton |
| Orange and mandarin | Girsac mesh net or vented poly bag | 1 kg, 1.5 kg or 2 kg | 15 kg telescopic carton |
| Onion | Mesh bag inside a master bag | 1 kg, 2 kg or 5 kg | 10 kg or 25 kg master |
| Garlic | Net sleeve or printed carton insert | 250 g, 500 g or 1 kg | 10 kg carton |
| Pomegranate | Single-layer tray, or flow-wrapped single fruit | Single fruit | 4.5 kg tray carton |
| Mango | Single-layer tray, fruit in moulded insert | Single fruit | 4 kg or 6 kg carton |
| Sweet potato | Vented poly bag | 1 kg or 1.5 kg | 10 kg carton |
| Green bean | Top-seal tray or flow-wrap | 200 g or 250 g | 2 kg or 5 kg carton |
Printed packaging runs on a lead time, not a purchase order
Plain punnets, nets and cartons are stock items in Egypt and can usually be drawn from a converter within a week. Anything printed is different. Artwork approval, plate making and a minimum print run mean a buyer should count on three to five weeks between signing off a design and the first carton being packed under it. Retail pack formats carrying a customer logo therefore have to be ordered against a season, not against a single container.
Minimum runs are the second constraint. Printed film and printed punnet lids are typically quoted in tens of thousands of units, which is far more than one part-load consumes. Where the volume does not justify a print run, a printed adhesive label applied to a plain punnet does the same job at a fraction of the commitment.
What a 500 g punnet actually contains
A declared unit weight is a minimum, not a target. Packhouses overfill deliberately so that the unit still meets its declared weight after moisture loss in transit. On strawberry and green bean the overfill is usually 2 to 5 percent. Buyers reconciling an arrival weight against an invoice should expect the carton to weigh slightly more than the sum of its declared units at loading, and slightly less than that at arrival. The moisture loss rates by crop explain how much of that difference is normal.
What to send your supplier before the first order
- The retail format and declared unit weight, in grams.
- Units per master carton, and whether the master is a display carton or a shipper.
- Artwork in print-ready form, with the country of origin statement and any barcode you need on the unit.
- Whether the unit needs a barcode of its own, or only the master carton does.
- The pallet pattern you want at your end, since a retail unit changes the count that fits a layer. The carton specification reference covers board grade and stacking strength for the master.
PEI Trade is an Egyptian exporter and not a neutral reviewer of packaging suppliers. The formats above are the ones we pack and ship.
Ask for a quote on your own pack format
Send the format, the unit weight and the destination, and we will come back with a per-carton price, the packaging lead time and the first available loading week. WhatsApp +20 10 9911 1918.