The season has moved into its final third. Keitt is still the only variety loading in commercial volume, Kent and Naomi are finished, and the questions coming into the desk this week are almost entirely about September rather than August.
Variety position
Keitt is past peak. Orchards in Ismailia and Sharqia are on their second and third picks, and the fruit coming through the lines reflects it. Availability holds through the last week of August at reduced daily volume, then tapers through the first half of September. Growers in the newer desert reclamation blocks west of the Delta are running roughly a week behind the Ismailia timing, which is where most of the late September fruit will come from.
Sizing
The size curve has continued to shift down, as expected at this point in the harvest. The bulk of current packing sits in counts 8 and 9 on the 4 kg carton, with count 10 rising as a share of the total. Counts 6 and 7 are now genuinely scarce and are being allocated against standing programmes rather than offered on the spot market.
Buyers who have specified count 7 in a contract for September loading should reopen that conversation now. The practical options are to accept a mixed 7 and 8 pack, to move to a straight count 8, or to move the order forward into the final August positions while larger fruit is still packing. Waiting rarely improves the outcome, because the fruit does not get bigger after this point in the season. The relationship between count, fruit weight and end channel is set out in our note on mango sizing and carton counts.
Quality and condition
Late-season Keitt carries a higher dry matter figure than the same variety in July, which is good news on eating quality and on how the fruit ripens after arrival. The trade-off is that late fruit has spent longer on the tree through the hottest part of the summer, so lenticel spotting and occasional sunburn on exposed shoulders are more visible than they were three weeks ago. Class I tolerances are being applied strictly, and lots that would have passed as borderline in July are going to Class II.
Hot water treatment and careful field sanitation remain the controls that matter for latent anthracnose on late fruit, and they matter more now than at any earlier point in the season.
Freight and loading positions
Reefer availability out of Alexandria and Damietta has tightened over the past ten days. Two things are happening at once: mango is competing with grape and fig volume for the same equipment, and lines are beginning to reposition boxes ahead of the citrus season that opens in late October. Booking lead time on GCC services is running five to seven days. North European and Russian services want ten days or more.
Practical guidance for this week is to confirm September positions now rather than in the first week of September. Buyers who wait will be booking into the same window as everybody else moving late fruit, on equipment that is already being drawn down.
What to do with the handover
For programmes that need continuity past the Egyptian window, the handover to Brazilian and West African supply happens through late September and October. Buyers running rolling retail programmes should have that transition agreed before the last Egyptian container ships, not after it. Our note on late-season Keitt tail volumes and planning the handover covers how that sequencing usually works.
Looking further out, allocation conversations for the 2027 Egyptian season are already open, and the buyers who secured good positions this year are the ones who committed early.
Summary for the week
Keitt available at reduced volume through end August and into mid September. Size curve centred on counts 8 to 10. Counts 6 and 7 allocated only. Kent and Naomi finished. Freight tightening, book September positions this week. Quality strong on internal eating characteristics, external tolerances applied strictly.
For current availability by count, packhouse allocation and a quote on FOB Alexandria, CFR or CIF terms under Incoterms 2020, contact the Nile Prime export desk on WhatsApp at +20 10 9911 1918.