"There are a lot strawberries from Spain on the market just now," comments Chris Rose from Asplins Producer Organisation. "The Spanish fruit is later on the market than usual, due the late season caused by the bad weather earlier in the year."
The domestic strawberry season seems to start earlier each year, but Chris said it is not the actual start date which is significant but the date when the volumes start increasing, "This is due to more and more glasshouse production in the UK which means we will not see the prices we had in previous years for the early production. Tesco already have English strawberries at £2 for 400g, this is exceptionally cheap for the time of the year."
"We will have significant volumes of early fruit from tunnels by mid May," explains Chris. "Tunnel growers will be in full production then, but the main peak will be in June and this will be sustained. We have fewer peaks in production than we used to have and we don't have a dip in demand in July after Wimbledon like we used to either.
"At the moment demand is good in the UK, and UK consumers still prefer English strawberries over imports, but there is less difference than there used to be. This of course comes at a price, and the price the strawberries are selling at is lower than a few years ago."
For more information:
Chris Rose
The Asplins Producer Organisation Limited
Tel: 0044 1795 594811
Email: commercial@asplinspo.com