Fresh herbs are the smallest line most importers ever buy and the one that goes wrong most often. The volumes are tiny, the shelf life is measured in days rather than weeks, and the product is almost never the reason a shipment fails. Handling is. For a mid-size buyer who wants Egyptian mint or basil without committing to a container, the question is not whether it can be done but which route the order should take.
What Egypt actually supplies fresh
Mint is the volume line, with spearmint the export standard. Basil follows, mainly the large-leaf sweet type, with some Genovese selection for Italian and German buyers. Dill, flat-leaf and curly parsley, coriander, chives, rocket, sage, thyme, rosemary and marjoram all move in export quantity, though the last four often go dried instead. The main production area is Fayoum and Beni Suef, with Nubaria supplying protected-house basil through the colder months.
Supply is genuinely year round, but the two useful windows are different. October to May gives the cleanest quality and the widest variety list. June to September, Egyptian herbs compete against European field crops and the heat makes basil in particular harder to hold.
Formats a small order can actually take
| Format | Typical unit | Carton |
|---|---|---|
| Bunched, banded | 50 g to 100 g per bunch | 1.5 to 3 kg net, 20 to 40 bunches |
| Loose leaf, bulk | Open carton or crate | 2 to 5 kg net |
| Retail punnet or clamshell | 20 g, 30 g, 50 g | 10 to 20 punnets per carton |
| Flow-wrapped sleeve | 100 g | 12 to 20 sleeves per carton |
Minimum practical order is far smaller than most buyers assume. A herb line can be added to an existing part-load in quantities of 20 to 50 cartons, which is well under a pallet. Retail punnets need printed film, so the first order in punnets carries a print minimum and a lead time of several weeks. Bunched product in a plain carton with a stick-on label can be loaded in days.
The cold chain is the whole product
Herbs want 1 to 2 degrees Celsius with relative humidity as close to 95 percent as the room allows. Basil is the exception and the trap: it suffers chilling injury below roughly 10 to 12 degrees and turns black at the leaf edge within a day of being held at mint temperature. Basil cannot share a set point with mint, dill or coriander. If you want both in one shipment, basil travels separately or in an insulated box with its own regime.
Realistic life on arrival is seven to ten days for mint, parsley and coriander when the chain has held, four to six days for basil, and rather less for any of them if the box sat on an apron in the sun. That sets the routing. Air freight is the normal answer for retail-grade herbs, and our note on when a mid-size buyer should fly produce instead of shipping it works through the cost per kilo. Sea freight in a mixed reefer is viable for nearby markets and for bulk product going into processing, and the compatibility rules are covered in mixing products in one Egyptian reefer.
Compliance worth settling first
Fresh herbs from several origins sit on enhanced import control lists in the EU and the UK, with increased frequency of identity and physical checks on certain species. Which species and what frequency changes by regulation cycle, so confirm the current status for your specific herb and destination with your broker before booking rather than assuming last season’s position still holds. Every consignment needs a phytosanitary certificate, and a recent residue report is worth having in the file. GLOBALG.A.P. cover for the supplying farm can be confirmed on request.
Start with one box
Herbs are the cheapest category to trial. A single mixed carton flown on a Thursday tells you more about a supplier’s handling than any specification sheet will. Send the species, the format, the weekly quantity and the destination airport, and Peivana will quote the line on its own or added to a part-load. WhatsApp +20 10 9911 1918 reaches the desk, and quotations on defined requests normally go back the same day.