"The Costa Rican season is just coming to an end and the last fruit is arriving next week. It is a transitional time of the year and the great weather in Europe at the moment is increasing demand which makes supply challenging," explains Terry Watts from the company.
"At this time of the year we are moving from Costa Rican supply in to Moroccan, then on to Almeria and Murcia. Overall quality of the Costa Rican melons this season was average to good, Honey Dew, watermelon and Galia had some issues but the supply of Cantaloup and Augustino, an exclusive variety for us, has been pretty good."
Watts expects some sizing issues from Morocco, sizes will be too small for some retailers and processors, so he is expecting it to be a fairly short season this year.
"The Spanish melons should start to arrive this weekend from Almeria, then on to Murcia in a few weeks time. If northern Europe has the excellent summer that has been predicted we expect to have a very good Spanish season," said Watts.
Prices at the moment are fairly decent especially for watermelons since they are short but as more Spanish fruit starts to come online they will balance out to more realistic levels.
Coupled with their pineapple imports, VidaFresh have expanded their business on the back of rising demand for fresh cut fruit and are now big players in that part of the industry, "It is the ideal convenience snack and I expect the demand to keep growing as the range of fruits used expands thus giving a wider and more interesting choice to the consumers.”
Vidafresh do not have their own packing and storage facilities. Their business model is based on being as direct as possible from source to client removing as much cost as possible from the supply chain.
For more information:
T
erry WattsVIDAFresh
Tel: +44 1322 305431
Email: terry.watts@vidafresh.co.uk
www.vidafresh.co.uk