Sunfare in Egypt
For centuries Egypt has been hailed as one of the breadbaskets of Africa producing fruit and vegetables in both the fertile Nile Delta and adjoining Desert areas. Therefore it is not surprising that Egyptian growers planted thousands of acres of oranges to become one of the world’s largest producers and exporters of Valencia oranges.
Our Egyptian fruit season is our busiest time of the year. Starting in November, we begin readying ourselves by checking the supplier farms all around the Nile Delta area, selecting only the best orchards to harvest and provide fruit to our 3 packing houses in Damanhur. We take great pride in the fact that our fruit comes from orchards that are hand picked by a member of the Sunfare family, and thoroughly inspected to ensure it lives up to our standards.
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By early December, the navel oranges are ready for harvest. We begin picking slowly, to ensure the fruit is ready for export. In late January, the valencia season starts. This brings the busiest time of the season. In the packing house, we make sure the fruit is carefully handled, washed to the correct food safety standards, packed according to specifications and shipped safely and on time for our customers. Our fruit is loaded and shipped in temperature controlled containers to ensure the freshness our customers have come to know and love.
Our Egyptian Story
After 3 years of preparation, in 2014 Jean and Gerd left for Egypt with the mission to establish a world class citrus brand, and so the Sunfare brand was born. Arriving in Egypt, we found enormous opportunities but also a lot of weaknesses. The citrus production in Egypt had grown exponentially but the packing facilities had not been upgraded to accommodate the additional volumes. Together with the management of Sonac we started to upgrade the packaging facilities, cold room capacity and generally modernizing the facilities to ensure we had the capacity to meet the demands of world class Egyptian citrus.
In 2017, the Egyptian family grew to include Stephan, who is now Quality Control manager, as well as co-packhouse manager for all 3 of Sonac's modernized packhouses. In 2021, the rest of the family became incorporated into the business, all picking up roles best suited for them. Today there are 3 generations of the family working in Egypt during the packing season.
Today Sonac has 3 modern packing facilities that are able to process 600 tons of raw material per day and is recognized as one of the leading exporters of quality Egyptian citrus. Most importantly the Sonac and Sunfare families have grown into a formidable force in the Egyptian citrus industry.