The season of table grapes from overseas is now slowly coming to an end. The first flows of goods from Italy have already arrived on the market, but the seedless varieties have still not arrived. This means that companies like Fresh Connection Fruchtimport GmbH based in Hamburg, are currently able to draw up a cautious balance sheet for this year's season: "The Egyptian harvest is a bit smaller than in the previous year due to the heat," says managing director Mathias Eggemann.
This year, the import company started somewhat later with their shipments from North Africa. "Food retailers are very keen on quality right now. We have seen that other regions were harvesting very early. But in these fruits, the sugar-acid content is not well-balanced. Because of this, we have decided to start harvesting in Egypt a little later," says. Eggemann. While the season of the early varieties Prime Seedless and Early Sweet is currently almost over, the Sugarone variety is now the first choice. “This table grape is very tasty and crispy.”
To supplement the Egyptian table grapes, the company has also obtained Israeli products. The time slot for their sales, however, is very short. However, in principle this also applies to the Egyptian fruits. According to Eggemann, the food retailing industry (LEH) is expected to switch to southern European goods in two to three weeks, after which the overseas season will be officially completed. The experienced importer, however, is observing an interesting and long-term development in the area of table grapes: 'In Namibia, growers have been testing new varieties for some time. These are different varieties, both white and red. These are interesting in terms of taste, due to the fact that these grapes already reach very high Brix values during their cultivation phase. But some varieties are not yet ready for export. However, as soon as they can be exported, I am sure that some of them will have great sales potential in Europe.”
In the area of pome fruits the overseas specialist is currently in its peak season as well. “We now have overseas pears primarily from South Africa: the Packhams Triumph and Abate Fetel are currently being marketed. Next week, we also expect the first shipments of the Forelle variety. Regarding apples from overseas, we are seeing good demand, especially for club varieties like Pink Lady and Jazz.” This week, the Hamburg importer is expecting the first 'Star Ruby' grapefruits from South Africa.
Fresh-Connection Fruchtimport GmbH was founded in 2003 by Rolf Missler. Since then, the company has been able to assert itself well on the market and has many years of international, sustainable business relationships in various overseas countries. Following the restructuring in 2016, two new partners - Andreas Diekmann and Matthias Eggemann - were taken on board and since then they have also been managing directors. The clientele of the company has been very versatile from the beginning, consisting of retail chains, wholesalers and gastronomy suppliers in Germany and abroad.
For more information:
Fresh-Connection Fruchtimport GmbH
GF: Matthias Eggemann
Oberhafenstrasse 1, 20097 Hamburg
Tel.: +49 (0) 40 286 689 0
Fax: +49 (0) 40 286 689 10