The banana market is hot at the moment. "There isn't that much fruit available right now, either from Colombia and Costa Rica or from Africa. It takes four to five weeks for the fruit to get here, and during the holidays not many people were packing at the plantations. The dollar exchange rate also plays a big part," says Tim Priem of United Fresh Service from IJsselmuiden, specialized in ripening bananas and ready-to-eat fruit, such as mangoes, avocados, papayas and stonefruit.
Niels Borgers and Tim Priem
Green and yellow price
"The European green price is going up quite a bit, but the yellow market is still lagging somewhat. In Europe, the green price will go up further, while prices in the Netherlands are stabilizing. Demand is good, although the Netherlands lags far behind compared to other European countries," Tim goes on to say. "I expect this market situation to continue for a while. In the Netherlands, due to Jumbo's lowest price guarantee there's not much room to manoeuvre, but in other countries the price could be going up."
While a lot of bananas in the Netherlands are of Colombian origin, in Europe supplies from Ecuador are increasing. "From Ecuador, it's a lot easier to ship fruit than from Colombia. The export from Ecuador for a market that's new to them, China, is increasing enormously, for instance. With the Philippine and Indonesian bananas, China has a reasonable market at home, but due to problems in recent years, the Ecuadorian fruit has made waves there. I think in the long run China could become a very big player for the Ecuadorian fruit. What the effect of this will be on the European market, is not yet known. This could offer perspectives for the European banana sector to deal with shortages."
Less unknown fruit
One development, according to the banana ripening company, is that less and less unknown fruit is entering the market. "There used to be a lot of unknown brands, but that's pretty much over now. They can't afford it anymore. The European green and wholesale prices are fluctuating too much, so those sales are like a casino. The retailers have their established channels, and unknown brands can't get between that. To differentiate, demand for niche markets, such as organic bananas, is increasing all over Europe. As an independent service provider, we respond to this so our network is sufficient there as well."
For more information:
Niels Borgers
Tim Priem
United Fresh Services B.V.
Spoorstraat 26
8271 RH, IJsselmuiden
Tel +31 38 337 27 10
Fax +31 38 337 27 19
info@unitedfreshservices.com
www.unitedfreshservices.com