This is the point in the season where the picture changes week to week rather than month to month. Keitt is carrying the programme on its own now, orchards are working through the tail of the crop, and the question in front of most buyers is how much September they can still cover. Here is where things stand as of the week of 17 August 2026.
Varieties in the packhouse
Naomi finished earlier this month and is no longer offered. Kent volume is done. Keitt is the only variety we are packing for export at this stage, and it will remain so through the close of the season. Buyers still holding open positions on Kent or Naomi should convert them to Keitt or roll them to the 2027 programme, which is discussed in our note on planning 2027 Egyptian mango allocation.
Sizing
The sizing curve has continued to move down, which is normal behaviour for the tail of a Keitt crop. Counts of 8 and 9 per 4 kg carton are still available but the volume in those counts is thinning and they are the first thing to sell out each week. The centre of the curve now sits on counts 10 and 12, and there is a growing share of 14 count fruit coming off the line. Buyers who need large fruit specifically should be booking a week further ahead than they were in July, and should be prepared to accept a mixed count within a single pallet rather than a straight one-count pallet.
For anyone matching count to channel, retail sleeve programmes are the hardest to cover right now and food service and wholesale positions are the easiest. The count and channel logic is set out in Egyptian mango sizing and carton counts.
September coverage
September positions are open but they are finite, and they close in the order they are confirmed rather than in the order they are discussed. We are quoting into the first three weeks of September with reasonable confidence and treating the final week as conditional on how the last orchards behave. Anyone planning a September arrival into Europe or the Gulf should be fixing volume now, because the packing window and the sailing window both close inside the next four to five weeks.
Freight and booking lead times
Reefer space out of Alexandria and Damietta is available but lead times have lengthened compared with mid-season. Plan on booking seven to ten days ahead of the intended gate-in date for European destinations and slightly less for Jeddah, Jebel Ali and Doha. Equipment availability rather than vessel space is the usual constraint at this stage of the year, and that is worth building into your own arrival planning. Rates have been broadly stable week on week on the Mediterranean and Gulf legs.
Pre-cooling capacity is the other pinch point in a tail-of-season week, because more of the crop is arriving at the packhouse at once. We are holding to the same cooling discipline described in pre-cooling and inland transport on Egyptian mango, which means a container may wait an extra half day in the cold store rather than load warm. That is a deliberate choice and it protects arrival condition.
What to do this week
If you need large counts, book early in the week and accept mixed pallets. If you need September volume, confirm it rather than reserve it. If you are planning a first shipment with us, the tail of the season is a workable moment for a trial container because the fruit is well characterised and lead times are predictable, but it is not the moment to leave a decision open for a fortnight.
Send the count, carton format, quantity, destination port and Incoterms 2020 basis, and we will come back with availability and a price the same day. WhatsApp the export desk on +20 10 9911 1918.