Ramadan & Q4 Sourcing Calendar for European Medjool Buyers (2027 Season)

The European Medjool season is driven by two demand peaks: Ramadan (starting on or around 17 February 2027) and the Q4 gifting / health-food retail cycle (late October through December). Both peaks rely on the same upstream supply chain — Jordan Valley harvest in September–October, shipment from Aqaba from late October, EU warehouse arrival mid-November onward.

June–July 2026

Farm: mid-season fruit development. Pollination is complete; fruit is sizing up. First preliminary volume forecasts.

You should be: issuing early RFQs for Ramadan 2027 contracts; confirming grade and packaging requirements internally; discussing preliminary contract structures with 1–2 preferred suppliers.

August 2026

Farm: late-season development. Final volume and quality estimates emerge. Pre-harvest residue testing begins.

You should be: finalising contracts for harvest-fresh shipments; confirming Incoterms, ports of discharge, lead times; pre-booking reefer container slots.

September–October 2026 — Harvest

Farm: harvest. Selective hand-picking, multiple passes per tree. Daily sorting, packing, cold storage. First shipments leave Aqaba late October.

You should be: receiving first sample shipments for QA acceptance; confirming shipping schedules; initiating any required SGS or quality inspections at origin.

November 2026

Market: main shipping season. Aqaba is busy. Reefer containers transit to Rotterdam, Hamburg, Antwerp, Marseille, Algeciras over 8–14 days.

You should be: planning inland transport from discharge port to warehouse; allocating Q4 retail stock; building up Ramadan 2027 retail safety stock.

December 2026 — Q4 retail peak

Market: European retail sells through Q4 stock. Health-food and gifting peak.

You should be: monitoring sell-through rates; reordering for any Q1 gaps in advance — January container slots get tight.

January 2027

Market: pre-Ramadan retail build-up across Europe and the UK.

You should be: confirming final pre-Ramadan top-ups; issuing purchase orders for last Ramadan shipments — these need to arrive in EU warehouses by early February.

February 2027 — Ramadan begins (~17 February)

Market: peak Medjool sell-through. Specialty retail and ethnic supermarkets see strongest demand.

You should be: managing retail allocation; beginning internal post-Ramadan demand analysis to inform 2027–28 contracts.

March–May 2027

Market: demand softens. Industrial / ingredient buyers continue. New pollination season on the farm.

You should be: settling balances with suppliers; beginning early conversations for the 2027–28 season.

Common mistakes that drive cost up

Late RFQs (after August). By August, premium suppliers have allocated their best harvest to early-confirmed buyers.
No volume commitment. Spot buying carries a 10–20 % premium and limited grade choice.
Single-shipment Ramadan plan. A single late-January container with shipping delay risks missing the peak entirely.
No QA pre-acceptance protocol. Re-grading after arrival is expensive and often unnecessary if origin QA is properly defined.

How Crown of the Palm UG fits this calendar

We confirm Ramadan 2027 contracts between June and August 2026, ship first containers from Aqaba in late October 2026, and reserve container slots specifically for our contracted European buyers. We work with multi-shipment contract structures and clear QA protocols.

For Ramadan 2027 allocation, write to info@crownofthepalm.de before 31 August 2026.