Regionality on everyone's lips
About 10 days ago, the Producer Cooperative initiated this year's plum harvest and meanwhile the regional food retail trade (LEH) has also entered the game. “Of course we are at the beginning of the harvest, but we expect a fairly high seasonal yield of about 5,000 to 6,000 tonnes of plums. This is significantly higher than last year, when a substantial part of the fruit suffered from frost,” said Mr. Hattemer.
In contrast to the plums, the apricot crop this year is quite small, as part of the regional crops suffered from hail damage. The main Orangered variety is already marketed. At the end of this week smaller varieties will come in the market. "Of course it's a product for specialists, which so far has been marketed mainly right from the doorstep," says Hattemer. "Nonetheless, the regional fruit is currently on everyone's lips and in the past we have been able to sell local apricots to food retailers.”
Importance of German products
At the apricot season's end, the focus is already on regional mirabelle plums, whose harvest is expected to start in late July-early August. “Here, from the start we completely focused on the Nancy variety from France, because this has always been appreciated there. We produce both fruit for the industry and premium quality fruit for fresh consumption. We have gradually introduced this product segment and are currently very well represented in the food retail sector, in part throughout all of Germany. Furthermore, we also export to France. We are talking about an annual volume of about 1,500 tons.”
Despite the prominent market position of the Rheinhessian stonefruit, the grower's cooperative makes constant efforts to redefine, expand and improve their existing range. “That's why we are very active breeding certain varieties. With regard to plums and sweet cherries, for example, we regularly assist with variety trials,” said Hattemer. With regard to the sweet cherry market, today's LEH is largely determined by foreign goods. “However, there are now regional programs for German goods. These need to be developed further in order to position German goods in this segment more strongly.”
Leading provider
The firm from Rheinhessen is a central marketing company for the orchards in Rhineland-Palatinate and has around 1,500 members. The Rheinhessen distribution cooperative is one of Germany's largest suppliers of sweet and sour cherries, plums, apricots and mirabelle plums. In addition to the marketing of stone fruits, the product portfolio of VOG also includes asparagus and pome fruit.
For more information:
Am Großmarkt 1, 55218 Ingelheim
Tel. +49 (0) 61 32 7 84-0