Israel: “Focus mainly on Orri Clementine”
"We start the year with grapefruit and sweetie. The start of the season has been very good. In late August, supply from overseas was ready and we arrived on a totally empty market in September. There was a lot of demand with high prices as a result. Later prices dropped somewhat and currently we are in a normal situation," says Oron Ziv of BeFresh Europe. Israeli grapefruit is a valued product and, according to Ziv, in terms of value for money even the best in the world. However, as growers have had unsatisfactory returns in recent years, many growers stopped growing grapefruit. The cultivation of oranges has decreased tremendously. All eyes are on the easy-peelers, with the Orri Clementine in particular.
Supply Orri Clementine doubled
The season for easy-peelers was launched in mid-December. In the past, there were many Minneolas from Israel, Europe usually representing a good market, but now production isn’t likely to increase. Nowadays Egypt and Turkey also provide ample supply of Minneola's, and their prices are lower. "We have close to 12,000 tons of Minneola available for export this season. These mainly go to France, the Netherlands, Belgium and the UK. The more attention goes to the Orri Clementine, which in recent years has been planted increasingly.”
According to Ziv, the older varieties have made way for the Orri Clementine. "This easy-peeler is really booming. The season has just started and the supply will only increase. The main destination for the clementines is Europe, but they also find their way to America, Japan and Australia. The growers have been briefly affected by snow, but harvest has now resumed.” Israeli exporters expect to be able to export 90 to 100,000 tons of Orri Clementines this season, which is double the volume of last year. “Of course, we’ll have to see what happens when production is increased,” says Ziv.
Political conflict
The biggest challenge, according to Ziv, is the country’s political conflict. He says that some customers are less than eager to collaborate with Israeli suppliers. "It is commercially important to keep out of the debate. It’s vital to go for the product. I hope people will value high quality over political squabbles."
oron@befreshcorp.com