The Rouquette Group is a French grower and packing company dealing with a whole range of fruits. Céline Mura, Export Manager of the company: "The plum season was very complicated, because it lacked quantity. It’s the melons and kiwis that helped us this year."
Rouquette has just finished up on plums. "The demand was good, but we did not have enough product to serve all our customers. We had a lot of rain in the spring, in the flowering period, and the flowers fell. We had very little production in all American and Japanese varieties, but we had a good harvest of Reine Claude and Président. Fortunately, there always is a good demand for the Reine Claude produced in our area. This year the product has been commercialized under our new “Belle Epoque” brand."
Melon: better season in Spain
"The situation on the melon market remains complicated. The French season was characterized by a good demand, but at the same time larger quantities lowered prices."
"Fortunately, we had a good season in Spain and, next to the launch of our new brand “Belle Epoque”, we had the launch of our brand “Mel&Rose”. This was very successful and has certainly helped us. We have our own production in Spain and France and try to value each production area in the best possible way."
Kiwi: proper end of season in Chile
In a month, Rouquette will come up with French kiwis. "We are waiting impatiently for the coming French season. This week we are starting with the Italian Dori Kiwi for which we have the sales exclusivity in France. During the interval, we import kiwis from Chile. The beginning of Chile’s season was a bit slow, but the end of the season was pretty good."
Apples: Complicated for the moment
"For apples, it's a bit complicated for now. There are large European quantities, but less harvest in our region. The competition is huge. We hope the market will unblock in the coming weeks. We market apples also under the “Belle Epoque” brand, to offer our customers a premium product. This brand is offered on the European markets in addition to our usual brands in these markets and the brand “French Apple by Rouquette”, which is still proposed on our overseas markets."
The Rouquette Group ships more than 60,000 tons of fruit from the South West of France each year, and generates a turnover of around 65 million euros.
For more information: 
Groupe Rouquette
17 Chemin de Lender
82300 Monteils
France
+33 (0)5 63 65 14 78
celine@grouperouquette.fr
www.grouperouquette.fr