"The conditions during the growing season have been good and it looks like we will have a good season with over 200 tonnes," explains Peter Thomson. "Demand is very good in the UK, as it is worldwide. It has also been helped by an early end to the Polish crop."
This year's volume is double that of last year. Peter said that this is partly down to the growing maturity of the bushes, but also because last year was just a poor year.
"Berry size is looking very good and we are hoping to start with the premium large berries, as there are a lot of them. Demand for the domestic crop is good as the supermarkets are recognising that people want UK grown blueberries. The Brexit decision which affected the value of the pound has also made imports that bit more expensive, it has come up a bit but is still down from where it was."
The company are just finishing off the cherry harvest this week and according to Peter volumes will be down slightly. The Scottish crop has not been affected quite as badly as some of the orchards in England which were down 50%.
"After the frost in April, we adjusted our estimates and we have the volumes which we expected then, which are considerably up on last year. The English growers seemed to reduce their estimates almost every week," explains Peter. "Not surprisingly the market is very good for cherries and we wish we had more of them."
For more information:
Peter ThompsonThomas Thompson
Tel: 44 1250 875500
Email: pthomson@tthomson.co.uk
www.tthomson.co.uk