Various varieties of soft fruit are now switching to import. “That always brings a bit of commotion,” says commercial manager Ronald van Vossen of Fruit World in Breda, the Netherlands. He gives us an update about the market situations for various soft fruit varieties.
The Dutch greenhouse production is currently the most important production in strawberries. “The early production is already past its peak, and volumes of the later production have been moved up a bit due to the weather circumstances. Volumes are now starting to increase considerably, resulting in pressure on prices,” Ronald says. “In our traditional sales destinations such as Germany, Switzerland, the UK and Ireland, they still have plenty of domestic production on hand, although they’ll be switching to import strawberries within two weeks. Productions will therefore increase, but so will sales, and traditionally, we should be headed for a strong month. The great thing about this year is that despite the cold nights in the past few weeks, the quality of the early Elsanta is incredibly strong, and that has not always been the case for early productions.”
“The blueberry import season is only getting started slowly due to the bad weather in Peru. The limited availability of air cargo and good demand from China and the US is currently causing shortages in Europe. South Africa is also about 30 to 40 per cent below harvest prognoses, so that blueberries are now incredibly expensive. This might change as we head for December, because those volumes will just be arriving later in the year,” Ronald explains.
The raspberry market is currently characterised by a very changeable market. “Supply has large peaks, resulting in a different situation every week. The import raspberries are imminent. Within two to three weeks, we’ll receive the harvest from our own farm in Tanzania. However, this market could become seriously pressured in November,” Ronald expects. Last but not least, blackberries are currently switching to import with the start of the Mexican season. “We have good volumes of good quality available.”
For more information:
Ronald van Vossen
Fruit World
Tel: +31 76 52 31 570
r.vanvossen@fruitworld.nl
www.fruitworld.nl