The Red Sea crisis has made it difficult to find appropriate transport for apples from Poland to Asia and the Middle East, says Aniruddh Ramesh, director of Polish apple exporter LVMG Grupa: "After the new year, the demand from Asia and the Middle East was very good, despite the Red Sea shipping crisis. At that time finding the available transport was the largest challenge, which cost us on a few potential deals. The situation hasn't improved since then, but has actually worsened, in the sense that there is an even longer sailing time and we're seeing later departure dates, due to the delay in the incoming vessels."
For LVMG, the strategy was to spread the risk as much as possible, while also only procuring apples that can withstand a long transit time, Ramesh explains. "Despite these difficulties, we've taken measures to split our risk among a couple of different shipping carriers. However, the long transit time hasn't really changed, hence we have started to load lesser volumes and are only purchasing fruits from growers which are really very good and can withstand a long transit time. This has certainly impacted the potential volume we could send, if the route was shorter and transit time was lower."
According to Ramesh, there aren't as much volumes of apples available as the clients demand: "There are less quality fruits on the market compared to last season. Last season, we shipped Royal Galas to India until the end of May This season, we'll finish in the next week or two maximum. The same story with Red Delicious varieties, however our Red Jonaprince will continue for some time. Other varieties of Jonagold are also considerably less available, but Golden Delicious is available in good numbers, Szampion is available and a few other domestic varieties to name are available in good numbers. As such, the overall stocks are not depleted fully, but looking at the varieties that are in demand from our clients, these are not as available as we'd like, and I presume this is the same in other countries in Europe."
Ramesh hopes that the apple season will end on a positive note, despite the issues with logistics. "We're now at the most crucial part of the season, as we want to finish on a high note to have the hard work for the entire season pay off. Hence, we will not take any risks with fruits which are just on the edge of being unsuitable for long transit shipments, and work with strong fruits only. Overall, we are happy and blessed with our performance this season up until now, despite the logistical challenging situation."
Looking at the new season, the weather is the talk of the Polish towns, as spring frosts are always risky for the new crops, Ramesh explains: "There is lot of talk here in Poland about the spring frosts, which have has occurred all week now. We hope there is no significant damage on the flowers, as the flowering had already happened earlier in the year, as well as a mix of warm weather during the first week of April and temperatures in the negative this week in certain parts of the country at night. However, we are very optimistic about the quality and volumes will go unaffected for the upcoming season. We're also excited to start apple exports Colombia in the upcoming season."
"Once the apple season ends, we will immediately switch to the trade of berries. We've been more active on our fresh blueberries every season, supplying both the domestic markets, EU markets and non-EU markets. We're also looking forward to the start of that season!" Ramesh concludes.
For more information:
Aniruddh Ramesh
LVMG Grupa Sp.z o.o.
Email: ceo@lvmg.pl
http://www.lvmg.pl