Harvest and fresh shipping run roughly July to February. From late winter the supply comes from cured, cold-stored stock, which is why quality in April depends on how well the packhouse cured the crop in autumn. Ask any supplier for a season calendar by size and hold them to it in the programme.
Freshly dug tubers have thin, wounded skins. Curing — holding the crop at around 30 °C with high humidity for several days — sets the skin, heals wounds, converts starch to sugar and is what allows ten days at sea without breakdown. A supplier who cannot describe their curing regime is a supplier whose product will arrive with skin damage and rot.
The common formats are 6 kg telescopic cartons for retail programmes and 10 kg or 15 kg open-top cartons for wholesale, on Euro or standard pallets. Private label is normal. Specify the carton, the net weight, the pallet pattern and the label content — lot code, size, origin, packer — and require that the pallet tag and packing list match the cartons.
GlobalG.A.P. at farm level is the entry ticket for EU and UK retail; many buyers add GRASP, and BRCGS or IFS at the packhouse. Ask for the certificate numbers and check them on the certifier's database. Separately, commission a pre-shipment inspection: an independent inspector checks size, quality and condition before the container is sealed. It costs a fraction of one rejected container.
UK and EU requirements have diverged since 2021; consignments to Great Britain and to the EU are prepared separately.
Most Egyptian sweet potatoes are sold direct by growers and exporters. That works well for buyers with staff on the ground. The alternative is to contract with a UK counterparty that sources from certified growers and takes responsibility for specification, inspection, documents and delivery under English law — one contract, one point of accountability, and recourse in a jurisdiction you can enforce in. Our TRUE SOUTH sweet potato programme is built on that model.
This article is general guidance and not legal or regulatory advice. Import requirements change; confirm the current rules for your destination with your customs broker before shipping.
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