Although moods were dejected on the top fruit market prior to the season starting, current trade is anything but bad. “It is not going badly at all. Demand is coming from all directions, and prices are not disappointing either,” says Kees Boonman of Zeeland Fruit from Kattendijke, the Netherlands, who specialise in the export of top fruit. “Unsorted Lukassen is being well-absorbed by the trade as well. We work with fruit from Belgium and the Netherlands, and with our own cultivation. We have our own sorting line, which we use to supply our buyers with top fruit in a number of packagings. Our largest buyers are in eastern Europe. Demand from there hardly ever drops.”
“Our own top fruit harvest is very good, but I have heard that supply from Belgium is 25 per cent lower, and the situation is very changeable in the Netherlands as well. Qualitatively speaking, the harvest is looking very well. We are truly hoping to once again have a decent season for a change, because the boycott ruined too many things. It is about time for our Conference pears to be picked, they are starting to colour a bit due to the extremely high temperatures. Most growers will be quite far along by the end of the week. It's all a matter of working hard and keeping going,” Boonman concludes.
For more information:
Kees Boonman
Zeeland Fruit
Hoge pad 11
4474 NL Kattendijke