The CentralFruit and Vegetable Market of Thessaloniki was founded in 1975. Originally runby the Greek government until 1998, it was turned into a listed company, thoughstill with the Greek administration as its sole shareholder. About 800 tons offruit and vegetables are traded everyday by the company.
“Our mainfocus right now is the promotion of Argentinean lemons. Lemons aren’t availablein Greecein summer, so we need to import them from the Southern Hemisphere. At thismoment, we’re set to import about 1 million tons of Argentinean lemons, which amountsto about 50 containers,” says company representative Athanasios Koukoulis.
“The quality of these lemons is going to bebetter than last year, due to the weather circumstances. A lot of the lemon volumesof the previous year were used for juice,” adds Athanasios.
Lemons forman integral part of the Greek cuisine. They are used in everything from saladsto seafood. This means that the competition on the market for lemons is fierce.There are a lot of importers of citrus that are targeting the local markets of Greece, as itis a lucrative market. “The lemon prices went up due to a rise in demand duringthe Easter holidays. This demand will last well into the summer,” saysAthanasios.
As for the future, the CentralMarket of Thessaloniki intends to continue its current strategy. “The main changeis going to be the exporting countries from where we’re sourcing our lemons.Both Argentinaand South-Africa have become a lot more important for our Greek market, asopposed to Turkey,”concludes Athanasios Koukoulis.
For more information:
Koukoulis Athanasios
Central Market of Thessaloniki (Greece)
Tel 0030 2310 764 866
Email koukoulisfruits@gmail.com