Difficult season for nuts and dried fruit

During the summer the demand for nuts and dried fruit is always lower than in the winter, "In the summer people want more fresh fruit," says Linda de Ridder from Beltran. The season started last September and has not been smooth, "This mostly had to do with the situation in Turkey. They had to deal with frost during the growing period and the frost damaged more than half of the production. Therefore, there was a lot less volume."

Higher prices

Turkey is an important supplier of nuts and dried fruit, "We mainly import hazelnuts, almonds, figs and apricots from Turkey. The harvest of all of these products was hit by the colder weather. This had an impact on the price as well this season; prices nearly doubled compared to last year. At the beginning of the season the price for dried apricots was around 10 Euro per kilo; this dropped somewhat later in the season." Linda indicated that it was difficult to explain to the customers that everything had become more expensive, "Initially, many did not understand it. There was less sold than in other years because of the high prices." Linda is looking forward to next season, "The new harvest will come in September, and hopefully the volume is back to normal. Then the prices will be more acceptable for the customer."

Beltran

The Beltran company falls under Groep A. de Witte. The import center in Brussels offers Beltran a versatile range of both overseas fruit and a full assortment of Italian fruits and vegetables. In addition, they have a separate warehouse for all the nuts and dried fruit under the Cebon brand, where Linda takes care of business. Fruit juices are also sold in Cebon, some of which are organic. Currently there is high demand for dates. Ramadan has just started and dates are eaten regularly during the hours that people observing Ramadan may eat."

For more information:
Linda de Ridder
Beltran (Groep A. de Witte)
Werkhuizenkaai 112-154
1000 Brussel - België
Tel: +32 (0) 2216 4593
Fax: +32 (0) 2245 7043
info@beltran.be