Egy Berries in the press FreshPlaza · 9 April 2026
The Market Is Not Short of Strawberries, but of Compliant Supply
Speaking to FreshPlaza, Reham Suhry, Managing Director of Egy Berries, described a demanding frozen strawberry season. On paper the acreage and volumes are there; the real challenge is consistency.
“The market is not short of strawberries, it's short of strawberries you can truly rely on.”
Reham Suhry, Managing Director, Egy Berries
Consistency is the real shortage
Unpredictable weather has shown up in the fruit this season. For buyers, the difference is no longer whether strawberries are available, but whether a supplier can deliver product that is consistent, compliant and traceable lot after lot.
Egy Berries' answer is to stay close to the source: working directly with selected farms, supervising the process and tracing every lot back to its origin. As Reham put it, trust is built on details.
Rising costs and slower decisions
Regional uncertainty has pushed costs up across the chain. Reham pointed to fuel prices up around 30%, electricity up 15 to 20%, and some packaging costs rising close to 50%, driven mainly by currency and input costs. At the same time, buyers are more cautious and decisions take longer, which means stock is held for longer and storage and financing costs increase.
Shipping routes and global energy prices are being watched closely across the industry. Goods are moving, but everyone is operating carefully.
Doing things better, not doing more
Instead of expanding, Egy Berries chose to sharpen its operation:
- Fewer farms, stronger control over every growing and harvesting step
- More discipline in quality management and traceability
- More selective partnerships with buyers and growers who see compliance as something built in from the start
“Compliance is not something you negotiate, it's something you build from the beginning.”
Reham Suhry, Egy Berries
Price versus reality under EU rules
Some buyers still focus mainly on price. Under current EU regulations, however, cheap product often fails to deliver on quality, consistency or compliance, and those gaps carry hidden costs. The value today lies in securing strawberries that are compliant, consistent and reliable.
Looking for compliant, traceable frozen strawberries?
Egy Berries grows, freezes and exports IQF strawberries and vegetables from Egypt, certified to FSSC 22000, ISO 22000, ISO 9001, HACCP and GLOBALG.A.P., and registered with US FDA and China GACC.
Request an offer on WhatsAppSee our IQF strawberriesSource: read the original interview on FreshPlaza (9 April 2026).