Canadian Specialty Produce Import Calendar
Canada publishes plenty of seasonal produce charts. Almost all of them cover domestic crops, which leaves out most of what an independent grocer actually plans around. This calendar covers the imported specialty lines: the Egyptian, Turkish, Mexican and American fruit and vegetables that Persian, Arab, Afghan, Turkish and Mexican grocers stock, plus the crossover items mainstream retail picks up once customers start asking.
It is built from what Shaly Foods actually lands and sells, not from a general horticultural reference. Where a window is wide or moves year to year, that is stated rather than smoothed over.
How to read this
Every window below is the Canadian landing window, not the harvest date in the country of origin. Those are different, usually by two to five weeks depending on whether the lot moves by air or by sea. A grocer planning a display cares about when the fruit is in a Canadian warehouse, so that is what is listed.
Windows are given in months because that is the honest resolution. An importer who publishes exact week numbers a year in advance is guessing. Harvests shift with weather, containers get held, and a single delayed vessel moves a variety by ten days. Use these windows to plan the shape of your year, then take the weekly line sheet for what is actually on the water.
The year at a glance
| Window | What lands | Origins |
|---|---|---|
| December to March Winter |
Strawberries, guava, hot and bell peppers, black and white eggplant, okra, cucumber, grey squash, tomatillo, nopales, chili pasilla, taro root, fresh herbs | Egypt, Mexico |
| March to May Spring |
Strawberries closing out, Egyptian vegetable lines, Mexican herbs and chilies, Romano beans | Egypt, Mexico |
| June to August Early to mid summer |
Turkish and BC sour cherries, white cherries, Şekerpare melon, US stone fruit, yellow plums, Hami melon, Egyptian mango opening, Bashroomi figs, cactus pear, Barhi dates | Turkey, Canada (BC), USA, Egypt |
| August to November Late summer into fall |
Egyptian mango at peak, guava, green grapes, Brown Turkey figs, Italian eggplant, BC grey squash and pinto beans, Turkish quince, pomegranate and sour plum | Egypt, USA, Canada (BC), Turkey |
By origin
Egypt
The deepest supply line and the widest window. Egypt runs two distinct seasons rather than one: a winter and spring vegetable and strawberry season, and a summer and fall fruit season built around mango.
| Product | Landing window |
|---|---|
| Mango, eight varieties | July to October |
| Bashroomi figs | Summer |
| Cactus pear, yellow | Summer |
| Guava | Late summer into late fall |
| Barhi dates, fresh khalal stage | August to September |
| Strawberries | Winter into spring |
| Black and white eggplant | Wide window |
| Green and red hot pepper | Wide window |
| Red and yellow bell pepper | Wide window |
| Indian okra | Wide window |
| Grey squash | Wide window |
| Cucumber | Wide window |
| Papaya | Wide window |
| Cherimoya | Wide window |
Barhi dates deserve a note, because they are the item most often ordered wrong. The August to September window is for fresh dates at the khalal stage: yellow, crisp and slightly astringent, eaten like an apple. That is a different product from the soft brown dates available year-round, and a customer asking for one will refuse the other. Full detail on the mango range sits on the Egyptian mango page.
Turkey
A short, sharp season built around fruit that barely travels. Turkish sour cherry is the single most time-sensitive item in the catalogue.
| Product | Landing window |
|---|---|
| Sour cherries | Early summer, a matter of weeks |
| Beyaz kiraz, white cherries | Early summer |
| Şekerpare melon | Mid to late summer |
| Quince | Fall |
| Pomegranate | Fall |
| Figs | Late summer into fall |
| Sour plums | Late spring into summer |
Turkish sour cherry is a sell-out item every year. Persian and Turkish customers buy it in volume for preserving, not by the handful, and the window closes before most grocers have finished deciding whether to stock it. Accounts that commit before the fruit lands get the allocation. Accounts that wait for the price list get whatever is left.
United States
The summer stone fruit programme, and the origin that fills the gap between the Turkish cherry window closing and the Egyptian mango window opening.
| Product | Landing window |
|---|---|
| Donut peaches | Summer |
| Peaches, regular and white | Summer |
| Nectarines, regular and white | Summer |
| Yellow plums | Summer |
| Hami melons | Summer |
| Green grapes | Late summer into fall |
| Brown Turkey figs | Late summer into fall |
| Italian eggplant | Wide window |
Mexico
The steadiest origin on the list. Most Mexican lines run wide windows rather than tight seasons, which makes them the base an independent grocer builds the rest of the year around.
| Product | Landing window |
|---|---|
| Cactus pear, red | Wide window |
| Chili pasilla | Wide window |
| Tomatillo | Wide window |
| Cactus leaves, nopales | Wide window |
| Mexican squash | Wide window |
| Romano beans | Wide window |
| Mint | Wide window |
| Baby dill | Wide window |
| Taro root | Wide window |
Canada, British Columbia
A short domestic season that overlaps the imported one, and in one case beats it. BC sour cherry lands within weeks of the Turkish crop and saves the freight.
| Product | Landing window |
|---|---|
| Sour cherries, BC | Mid summer |
| Grey squash, BC | Late summer into fall |
| White baby eggplant | Late summer into fall |
| Pinto beans | Late summer into fall |
Planning against the cultural calendar
For a grocer serving Persian, Arab, Afghan or Turkish customers, the produce season is only half the calendar. The other half moves with the cultural one, and the two do not line up the same way twice.
Nowruz, 20 or 21 March
Fixed to the spring equinox, so it lands the same week every year. Demand concentrates on fresh herbs, sprouted greens and the items that go on the haft-sin table, and it arrives in the middle of the Egyptian vegetable and strawberry window rather than the fruit one. Order commitments for Nowruz need to be placed in February. A grocer who calls in the first week of March is ordering against allocations that are already spoken for.
Ramadan, moving roughly 11 days earlier each year
Ramadan follows the lunar calendar, so it walks backward through the solar year. It begins around early February in 2027 and keeps moving earlier after that. This matters more than most buyers account for, because it means the Ramadan demand spike hits a different produce window every year. For the next several years it sits in the winter window, alongside Egyptian strawberries, peppers and dates rather than summer fruit.
What that means in practice
Build the order book around two clocks. The produce clock tells you what the country of origin can send. The cultural clock tells you when your customers will come looking for it. A year where Ramadan falls near the fresh date window is a very different buying year from one where it does not.
What moves these dates
Weather at origin
A hot spring in Egypt pulls the mango harvest forward by up to two weeks and compresses the varieties together. A cold one spreads them out. Neither is predictable in January, which is why no honest importer publishes a fixed week-by-week chart a season ahead.
Sea freight versus air
Most volume moves by sea, which adds weeks between harvest and landing and sets the floor on how fast a season can open. Delicate, short-window fruit can move by air at a cost the fruit has to carry. That decision changes the landing date by weeks.
Port and border timing
A container held for inspection moves an entire variety's landing date. It is routine, it is not predictable, and it is the single most common reason a promised week slips.
Allocation, not availability
Short-window items like Turkish sour cherry sell out at origin. The constraint is rarely whether the fruit exists. It is whether it was committed to before the boat left.
How this calendar is maintained
Shaly Foods Inc. is a direct importer based in British Columbia, buying from growers in Egypt, Turkey, Peru, Jordan, Mexico and the United States and shipping wholesale across Canada. The windows above come from the company's own landing records and current catalogue, and the page is revised as seasons move rather than left to go stale.
Journalists, trade press and industry researchers are welcome to cite this calendar. Attribute it to Shaly Foods Inc. and link to this page. For comment, current pricing context, or specifics on any origin listed here, use the contact page.
When do Egyptian mangoes arrive in Canada?
July through October, with the peak across August and September. The season opens with the firmer commercial varieties, Fons and Tommy Atkins, and closes with the thin-skinned premium ones, Zebdya and Naomi. Exact landing weeks shift each year with the Egyptian harvest and the shipping calendar.
When is Turkish sour cherry season in Canada?
Early summer, and it is short. Turkish sour cherry runs a matter of weeks, and Persian and Turkish customers buy it in volume for preserving rather than by the handful, so it sells out. BC sour cherry follows within weeks of the Turkish crop and covers part of the same demand without the freight.
When are fresh Barhi dates available?
August to September, at the khalal stage: yellow, crisp and slightly astringent, eaten like an apple. That is a different product from the soft brown dates sold year-round, and customers asking for one will not accept the other.
Why are these windows given in months instead of weeks?
Because months are the honest resolution. Harvests shift with weather at origin, containers get held at the border, and a single delayed vessel moves a variety by ten days. Any importer publishing exact week numbers a season in advance is guessing. Use these windows to plan the shape of the year, then take the weekly line sheet for what is actually on the water.
Can I use this calendar in an article or report?
Yes. Attribute it to Shaly Foods Inc. and link to this page. For comment, current pricing context or detail on any origin listed, get in touch through the contact page.