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Israel: Mehadrin to become leading exporter of Medjool dates

With the popularity of dates increasing steadily over the past few years, growers in Israel have taken advantage of that swell in demand. Riding that wave of popularity, Mehadrin, one of Israel's leading growers and exporters of produce, is looking to become Israel's top exporter of Medjool dates.


"This is the first year that Mehadrin will be the biggest exporter of Medjool dates from Israel," said Ofri Dimentman, date category manager for Mehadrin. With over 3,000 tons of Medjool dates expected to be shipped this season, he credited a worldwide rise in demand as helping them reach that milestone.


"In the past two year, demand for Medjool dates has grown between 10 and 15 percent," he said. "So we haven't felt any competition from other growers, like those in California, because the demand around the world has been pretty good." Robust demand has allowed them to expand their reach to a truly global level, noted Dimentman, so much so that they now ship to France, U.K., Germany, Holland, Sweden, Italy, Spain, Australia, China, U.S.A, Brazil and Canada.


"You name it, we ship there," said Dimentman.

Strong demand, in turn, has been fueled by a growing awareness among the mainstream public about the fruit and its benefits. With growing research into dates' health benefits, Dimentman thinks favorable press highlighting those attributes is a factor in reaching new markets.



"There's been a lot of research into the health benefits of the Medjool date," he said. "It's very sweet, but it has natural sugar, and it has a lot of fiber. It's still very popular with some ethnic markets, but we're now reaching more people. So when we ship dates to China, for example, those aren't going mainly to Muslim communities in China, but to a wider swath of Chinese people."

Additionally, he believes the superior quality of Medjool dates over other varieties has also contributed to Mehadrin's booming year.

"The Medjool is very good," he said. "It's soft, sweet and has unique taste, color and texture. It's really the king of dates."

For more information:
For more information:
Oron Ziv
Mehadrin
Tel: +31 180 642 570
Fax: +31 180 642 571
[email protected]
www.mtex.co.il