Protesters in Egypt today threatened to bring down the authoritarian government of president Hosni Mubarak, as large demonstrations in Cairo ran into their fourth day.
Such turmoil is likely to have at least an indirect impact on the country's strawberry exports, even though the action is taking place far from production zones.
Tim Morton of UK importer Total Berry's Redeva breeding programme, said that the main problem would be communication.
'Our procurement department is usually in touch with our suppliers on a day-to-day basis to find out how they're progressing and to determine what's on what flight,' he told Fruitnet.com. 'There are reports that the government has shut down mobile and internet connections, so we might not be able to find out what's coming in, which makes life difficult. Also, the farms will find it hard to communicate with their head office in Cairo.'
According to Mr Morton, Egypt will remain an important source of strawberries for the UK until mid-February, when Morocco will begin to take over supplies. It is, therefore, an extremely important period, both for UK importers and Egyptian growers.
'The UK market gives Egyptian growers their best returns, so it is a crucial time for them,' he says. 'They certainly don't want to lose the market right now. They are having a good season, even if volumes are slightly down due to the warm autumn. They are coming up to a period of larger volumes, so they want to get rid of them.'
How the current situation will develop, no one can confidently predict, Mr Morton says, given today's sudden escalation. 'Watch this space,' he advises.
