January is often a quiet period for many fruit varieties. Citrus, on the other hand, is doing well, says Francis van Overstraeten of import company De Roeck. He indicates that it's quite traditional that demand for citrus increases during this period. "The prices are also good. The regular oranges are between 60 and 90 cents per kilo, and the juice oranges are between 60 and 80 cents per kilo. For mandarins, you'll pay 11 Euro for 10 kilos." He observes that the season has seen several ups and downs so far. "There was also some damage to the produce due to the rain in December. With certain varieties, mainly the Clementines, there were some quality issues, but the good brands have held up well." De Roeck is known for its two citrus brands, namely Stephanie and Drie Vrouwen.
The apple range
Overseas apples
Francis has been working at De Roeck for over two years now, and since then the company has expanded its range. "It becomes more difficult when you offer citrus almost exclusively, so we made the decision to offer more products. For several years, we've been importing overseas apples from countries like Chile and Argentina, and that's still expanding. Of course this year there's a lot of domestic production, but many still want certain varieties from overseas areas. Granny and Royal Gala are examples of varieties our customers prefer to get from overseas. The biggest volume we sell is Pink Lady."
"Recently, in addition to top fruit, we've also started offering soft fruit like raspberries, berries and blackberries," the trader notes. "We already had strawberries for sometime, and we're selling large numbers of them. Slowly, our import range is expanding more and more."
For more information:
Francis van Overstraeten
De Roeck & Zonen
E.C. Werkhuizenkaai 112-154
1000 Brussels
Tel: +32 (0) 2 2426220
Fax: +32 (0) 2 2159959
Mobile: +32-479559366
For more information:
Francis van Overstraeten
De Roeck & Zonen
E.C. Werkhuizenkaai 112-154
1000 Brussels
Tel: +32 (0) 2 2426220
Fax: +32 (0) 2 2159959
Mobile: +32-479559366