Trade show Egy Berries Team · 19 October 2026

SIAL Paris 2026, Day 3: Partnerships Are Built on Understanding the Buyer's Requirements

A trade show is a requirements-gathering exercise

It is tempting to treat SIAL as a place to present. In our experience it works far better as a place to ask. Over three days at Paris Nord Villepinte we have sat with importers, processors, retail buyers and food-service distributors, and the pattern is consistent: each one has a specification shaped by their own market — the line they run, the customer they serve, the authority that inspects their goods.

"Frozen strawberries" is not one product. It is a calibre, a cut, a Brix level, a pack, a temperature regime and a document set. Day 3 was spent turning general interest into those specifics.

The five questions serious buyers asked

1. "What exactly am I buying?"

Variety, calibre and cut. For strawberries we work with Festival and Fortuna, whole in 15–25 mm and 25–35 mm calibres, or diced at 10×10 mm and 15×15 mm, with a minimum of 7° Brix. A buyer making jam, a buyer making smoothies and a buyer filling retail bags will each want a different answer, and they are right to ask before anything else.

2. "Can you hold that quality all season?"

Consistency is the question behind the question. Egyptian strawberries are harvested and frozen from December to June and shipped all year from cold store, so the honest answer involves the harvest calendar, the IQF line and the storage regime (−18 °C or colder), not a promise. Buyers who have been burned by a good first container and a disappointing second one listen very carefully here.

3. "What certifications and registrations do you hold?"

Compliance is no longer a closing detail — it is an opening filter. Egy Berries holds FSSC 22000, ISO 22000, ISO 9001, HACCP and GLOBALG.A.P., is registered with the US FDA and China GACC, and runs production in line with BRCGS practices. European buyers in particular raised the increased border checks that now apply to several Egyptian lines, and wanted to know how we plan testing and documents around them.

4. "When can it be on the water?"

Shipment windows decide more deals than most people admit. A buyer with a promotion in March needs the goods in February, which means a contract now and a loading slot agreed in writing. We load roughly 24–26 tonnes per 40-foot reefer in 10 kg cartons, and that figure alone answers a surprising number of planning questions at the table.

5. "How will it be packed — and whose name is on it?"

Bulk 1×10 kg for industry, 10×1 kg or 4×2.5 kg for food service, 20×400 g bags for retail under our own brand, and private label on request. Retail buyers usually move straight to artwork and lead time; industrial buyers rarely mention packing at all until the specification is settled.

The same product, four different conversations

We ship to Europe, Brazil, China and Canada, and the opening question differs by market. This is what we hear most often — not a rule, simply the pattern across our own meetings:

How we turn a stand conversation into a partnership

A business card is not a relationship. What follows a good meeting at Booth F001 looks like this:

• Write the specification down. Variety, cut, calibre, Brix, pack, temperature, destination port — agreed in writing, not remembered.
• Send a sample against that specification. Not a generic sample; the exact product described.
• Agree the checks before the order. Residue testing, documents and loading checks are agreed with the buyer ahead of each shipment.
• Start with a trial load, plan the season. One container proves the product; a season plan protects both sides against the harvest calendar.
• Review after arrival. What arrived, what the line did with it, what to change next time.

Our own 200 acres and our frozen fruit and vegetable range are what make that process possible — but the process itself is what buyers remember.

Still two days to meet us

SIAL Paris 2026 runs to 21 October at Paris Nord Villepinte. If you are on site, bring your specification to Hall 6A, Booth F001 and we will go through it line by line. If you are not, send it — the conversation works just as well in writing.

Frequently asked questions

Which strawberry varieties and sizes does Egy Berries supply?

Festival and Fortuna, whole in 15–25 mm and 25–35 mm calibres, or diced at 10×10 mm and 15×15 mm, with a minimum of 7° Brix and storage at −18 °C or colder.

How many tonnes fit in a 40-foot reefer container?

Around 24–26 tonnes of IQF strawberries in 10 kg cartons, depending on the cut and the pallet configuration.

When should a buyer contract Egyptian frozen strawberries?

The crop is harvested and frozen from December to June and shipped all year from cold store. Buyers who need a specific calibre in volume usually contract before and during the harvest rather than afterwards.

Does Egy Berries produce private label?

Yes — private label is available on request, alongside bulk 1×10 kg, food-service 10×1 kg and 4×2.5 kg, and 20×400 g retail bags under the Egy Berries brand.

Information as of October 2026. Product specifications are Egy Berries' own confirmed specifications; certification and registration details are current at the date of publication. Market observations in this article are drawn from our own meetings at SIAL Paris 2026 and are not statistical data.

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