This is our operational update for the week beginning 6 September 2026, written from the packhouse rather than from the market reports. It covers what we are packing, what the fruit looks like, and what buyers should be confirming this week.
Pomegranate
Wonderful is now running at full working volume from the Beheira and Nubaria blocks, and the harvest has moved past the early-picked fruit that dominated the last week of August. Colour has improved noticeably. Grading is tighter this week than last, which means a higher share of the crop is meeting export colour cover and a smaller share is being diverted to processing. The size curve is settling around 400 to 600 grams per fruit, with counts of 8, 9 and 10 per 4 kilogram carton making up most of what leaves the line. Larger 6 and 7 counts are available but not in programme quantity, and buyers asking for those exclusively should expect to wait.
Set point remains 5 degrees Celsius with vents closed and high relative humidity. Buyers on long sailings should read our note on husk scald and aril breakdown before fixing the carton format, because the choice between an open-vent carton and a lidded telescopic changes the arrival risk more than the set point does.
Citrus
The citrus line is commissioned and has been run empty for calibration. No commercial packing yet. Early Baladi is expected on the line from the second half of October, with early Navel following and Valencia opening in January. Nothing about that calendar has shifted from what we published in August.
What has changed is booking behaviour. The first serious citrus enquiries for the 2026/2027 season arrived this week, roughly a fortnight earlier than last year, mostly from Gulf and East European buyers who were caught short on space last season. Reefer allocation out of Alexandria and Damietta for late October is being taken now. Buyers who intend to load in the first three weeks of the Navel season should be fixing space this month rather than in October.
Loading and freight
Reefer equipment availability at Alexandria and Damietta is comfortable this week. Sokhna remains the better option for anything routed through the Red Sea to the Gulf and the Indian subcontinent. Free time terms have not moved. Loading windows are running normally, with pomegranate stuffed within 48 hours of packing in almost all cases this week.
Where a buyer is combining pomegranate with the first citrus of the season in one box later in the autumn, the set point and stow order matter, and we have set those out in loading citrus and pomegranate in one reefer.
What to do this week
Confirm pomegranate volume for late September and October now, while the size curve is favourable and grading is running clean. Fix reefer space for the opening weeks of citrus. If your specification is narrow on count, tell us this week so the packhouse can plan around it rather than react to it.
For current pomegranate availability, counts and Incoterms 2020 pricing from Alexandria, Damietta or Sokhna, message the Nile Prime export desk on WhatsApp at +20 10 9911 1918.