A small harvest last year was followed by a large harvest this year: Growers picked around 4,800 tons in 2018, and this is more than ever before.
There are two main reasons that have led to this record harvest: Firstly, the trees were "well rested" this year, because last year in many regions they bore little or no fruit due to the frost. On the other hand, there were ideal conditions this year: warm and dry weather, lots of sun and a low level of disease and pest pressure. "The plums were of excellent quality this year," says a delighted fruit grower Hansruedi Wirz, President of the Cherschen/Zwetschgen product center of the Swiss Fruit Association / Swisscofel.
The fact that the yield was so very generous has surprised even the industry. "We knew that the estimates were too low, but we would not have thought that we were this far off," says Wirz. And there was another thing that was unusual this year: the plums were particularly large. "Never before have we had such large calibers in the first half of the harvest season like we did this year," says Beat Gisin, Managing Director of Landi Reba.
Difficult marketing
The marketing of such a large amount of plums was difficult - for several reasons. The first varieties were ripe already in mid-July, which is exceptionally early. This, in turn, meant: The start of the harvest occurred in the middle of the holiday season. There was also a dampening effect on demand due to trees of private individuals being full of plums. "Many private individuals were not only able to cover their own needs, but they could also supply their acquaintances with plums, which happened at the expense of sales in the retail trade," says grower Gisin. Added to this is the huge scale of the competition in the shops: "The summer fruit ranges have increased massively in recent years, and we feel the effects," adds grower Wirz.
The export of plums could have relieved the home market, but due to the higher Swiss price levels, these exports were not possible, Gisin points out. There were no shortages of plums abroad anyway.
Pressure on prices
For the Swiss consumer, the large-scale harvest meant that he could benefit from extremely low plum prices occasionally, because the retail trade partly instituted very large promotional discounts. The fruit growers themselves received lower prices in return. This has reportedly led to much displeasure, among others because from a producer's point of view, plums did not have enough of a presence in the shops.
Grower Wirz responds to all the criticism: "2018 was a very extreme year. We never had to market so many plums. I would have preferred higher prices, but the quantity is a result in itself." In the end we can all just be happy if we are able to marketed all these plums."
Although the harvest is over at this time, in the retail trade, Swiss plums will remain available until mid-October.
Source: LID.ch