The Turkish season has started at Roveg. The company is already supplying Sultana grapes, figs and pomegranates, and this will be followed by Kwee pears, grapefruit, minneolas and lemons later on in the season. "Supermarkets are working more with Turkish products. Turkey is becoming an important production link in citrus. Especially minneolas and lemons are popular," says Sam Gielen of Roveg.
Sultana grapes
Last Friday the first Turkish Sultana grapes arrived in Waddinxveen. "The fruit is good and well coloured. It is a little difficult to find the right price setting. The grape market hasn't been bad, but it's not like good fruit is very well paid for. In addition to this, the European grapes - unlike the Turkish - can't enter Russia," says Sam.
Figs
Roveg has now had the third arrival of figs and they are arriving in slightly larger numbers. "The prices are at a level that we didn't have all of last year. Especially Russian buyers bought a lot from Turkey as an alternative to European stonefruit. This means they can still offer their customers something different. There are a lot of large sizes available," says the trader.