"The right size sorting could be a challenge in new top fruit season"

It has been a little calmer on the top fruit market in recent weeks. "We had a few dips due to the warm weather and there is a reasonably supply of summer fruit, but I'm positive about the coming weeks," says Kees van Ossenbruggen of the top fruit cultivation, sorting and packaging company of the same name from Ingen.

"The set lines in particular continue to run well. The domestic market for apples is reasonably good and the demand for good Elstar is at a continual level. The new harvest won't cause immediate pressure either," Kees expects. "In the pears there is a division in the market. The sales of the green strong pears continue to run, but there have been lesser parties throughout the entire season popping up here and there, which is giving a skewed image of the market."

"Good Elstars are still sold for between 80-90 cents and good Jonagold for around 50 cents. In pears you can see that for the set lines of good quality prices of 80 cents to 1 Euro are being made, but the lesser qualities are also far below this," says Kees. "The risk of this is that the market is sometimes disrupted by players who look at the price and not the product, which is disadvantaging the market."

The expectations for the new top fruit season are high. Yet Kees has his reservations. "Due to the weather conditions I expect a lot of varieties not to reach their ideal sizes. The Conference pears will be on the fine side and Lukassen and Comice will be coarse. I also expect irregular sortings for Elstar. The Jonagold is hanging more thinly, which is difficult for the sales, as the fat Jonagold can be sold to Eastern Europe, but not in bags for the domestic market."

"The continued lack of the Russian sales market is still a difficult situation for the Dutch fruit trade. We might just find it, but we have been missing this market all season. It's great that new markets in faraway destinations are being tapped, but they can't just replace the volumes that previously went to Russia. Extending the European boycott therefore does not put me at ease," concludes Kees.

For more information:
Van Ossenbruggen Fruit
Bulksestraat 1
4031 JW Ingen
Tel: 0031 (0) -601968
kees@ossenbruggenfruit.nl
www.ossenbruggenfruit.nl