“I don't remember a season when pomelos started this early,” noted Befresh Europe's Oron Ziv. “We shipped our first container of fruit last week. For grapefruit, there should be fruit in Europe by week 37, which is very early.” Israeli citrus shippers usually have the European market to themselves until October, which is when Turkish and Spanish fruit start arriving on the market. With an early start, Oron hopes they can take advantage of the strong market for a bit longer this year.
“We're not coming into an empty market in Europe, but prices are high,” he explained. “Turkish grapefruit could also come in early, but we'll have four or five weeks during which we can expect high prices. Because Egypt doesn't really grow grapefruit, Turkey and Spain are our main competitors, so it's just a question of how long that window will be open for us.”
Consumption of grapefruit has taken a dip in recent years, and that's prompted many Israeli growers to reduce their acreage. This is happening at a time when Oron believes demand could start to inch upward once more. Combined with the opening of new markets in Asia, he believes it could be a good time to be in the business of selling grapefruit.
“You see new outlets for grapefruit in China, Vietnam, Japan and South Korea where buyers are paying nice prices,” Oron explained. “If one of those markets takes just 5,000 tons, that's a big thing for us in Israel, even though that wouldn't be a lot to take for a market like China.” But, he concedes, there are still many factors that are up in the air that can change his prospects for the season: Russia and Turkey still have political issues that could affect trade and the volume of Turkish fruit on the market. Florida growers continue to contend with citrus greening disease and exchange rates in Europe could make trade more difficult.
“We come into this season with a positive outlook,” Oron said. “But it's very difficult to predict what the exact figures will be at the end of the season.”
For more information:
Oron Ziv
Befresh Europe
Israel
Tel: +972 4 619 1736
oron@befreshcorp.net