Traditionally, there is a healthy demand for figs in September. “Turkey is completely on the market now. The Brazilian and Israeli seasons mostly offer produce from specialised exotic importers, but during the Turkish season a number of other importers have the product,” says Melvin van der Zeyden, product manager with Yex. “Demand also increases during the Turkish season. During this time, retailers are selling a lot of figs (packed 6x4), far more than when produce from other origins is in season.”
According to Van der Zeyden, the season is fairly stable. “Last year supply was delayed two to three weeks, but now everything is going according to plan. Supply has been quite large, and that caused some pressure on prices, but nothing like two years ago when the market was at an all-time low. Now, prices are improving again. Those who start loading in Turkey at the present time will have to pay more than in recent weeks. . Expectations are that prices will continue to increase further.”
Yex supplies figs to retailers, wholesalers and food services all over Europe. “In Scandinavia and Germany figs have a permanent place on the shelves. Many Dutch retailers do not have figs available permanently. The Dutch have a mindset of ‘some people will not trust the unknown.’ But a product like passion fruit has become more common on Dutch shelves, and we expect this will also be the case with figs. We of Yex do not see an explosive growth in fig sales, but we do see stable sales, and that share is growing along with our company nicely.”
