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José Antonio Martín, de Agromartín: "Berry consumption in Scandinavia is spectacular"
Drop in strawberry acreage brings reward
So far, lower volumes and higher prices are marking this year's strawberry campaign in Huelva. The keys to this are the reduction in the acreage, as well as the excellent weather conditions."Although the yield per plant is similar to last year's, we are noticing the effect of the 10% reduction in the.....
Apofruit
Italy: Revolution expected in the cherry world
It is still too early to make an assessment on the next cherry season, but we can make a few assumptions. Curzio Firenzuola, area manager forApofruitis certain that, "In the next two/three years, there will be a small revolution.""The system is evolving. Once there were traditional orchards with tall trees.....
Ismea data (23rd February- 1st March 2015)
Italy: More kiwis sold overseas and recovery of apple trade towards Libya
The top fruit market did not show many changes with respect to the latest survey. There was a slight recovery of trade towards Libya for apples, whereas increased volumes of pears were sold abroad. More kiwis were sold overseas.Fresh apples: no particular variation. Slight recovery of exports towards Libya.....
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Bulgaria: Significant rise of tomato and cucumber prices
Tomato prices in Bulgaria have increased by nearly 30% in a year, according to the commodity exchanges. At the moment, a kilo of imported tomatoes is sold for 2.30 Lev (1.17 Euro) in the wholesale, while retail prices reach 3 lev (1.53 Euro). "Tomatoes have never been so expensive and people have stopped.....
German asparagus acreage + 5%
In 2014, the asparagus acreage in Germany increased by 5% compared to 2013, to about 25,300 hectares. That means asparagus took up the largest cultivation area of all vegetable varieties, with a share of 22% in the total open field acreage.The German Statistics Office (Destatis) further reports that the.....
Harvest House
First Dutch orange bell peppers available
The first orange bell peppers have been harvested at Alex Zwinkels of Zwingrow. "The first bell peppers are looking good," they report. "Firm fruit with a beautiful bright colour, a lovely sweet flavour and a very high content of vitamin C."Zwingrow has growing locations in Naaldwijk, Honselersdijk and.....
Moldova sharply raises grape exports to EU
Moldova has exported 12,000 tons of grapes to the EU in 2014, 6 times as high as registered in 2013 and the highest export result ever, according to NOI.md. Moldova's total exports of grapes amounted to 51,000 tons in 2014 with 29,000 tons of exports to Russia, 8,000 tons to Belarus, and 2,000 tons to other.....
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Fruit juice bars thriving in the Czech Republic
In the Czech Republic, the popularity of the so-called fresh bars, which offer their customers freshly squeezed fruit and vegetable juices, is on the rise. Just last year, according to information from the companies operating in this market, their number came close to one hundred. Market turnover is.....
Skillpack packing machines and drying line at world's best tomato grower
Skillpack BV has represented the PFM brand, a leading producer of packing machines, since 2001. The installation of the first packing machine "PFM Hurricane" occurred in 2007 at Duijvestijn Tomaten in Pijnacker. At this year's Fruit Logistica, the grower was elected best tomato grower in the world. The.....
Israel: “Focus mainly on Orri Clementine”
BeFresh markets large amounts of fruit and vegetables from Israel to Russia. Two years ago, BeFresh Europe was founded, focusing primarily on fruit exports to Europe. The main products for Befresh Europe are citrus and avocado. The citrus season in Israel runs from September to April. "We start the year with.....
Coert de Winter: "Its all dependent on good shippers"
Cuddy Import & Export: one man banana and pineapple import business
Over nine years ago Coert de Winter started a fruit import company called 'Cuddy Import & Export', alongside his wholesale plumbing company. He has specialized in banana and pineapple import and receives melons, grapes and citrus as well. The sales mainly take place within the Dutch fruit and vegetable.....
Spain: AN and Unica Group to merge
After months of negotiations, Grupo AN and Unica Group have agreed to merge to form a cooperative giant with a presence in eight regions, which will be a leading exporter of fruits and vegetables, as confirmed to Efeagro by sources from both companies.Almeria's Unica Group will become integrated to.....
Terrible year French potato growers
Potato producers are finding it hard to find buyers following a very good harvest this year. The situation is becoming critical. The harvest was excellent but they cannot turnover their stock. Prices are collapsing, “we can easily say 15-20% less than the average” says Luc Chatelain, producer in the.....
Greece: Difficult situation for potato growers
Greek potato growers are facing difficulties in purchasing the necessary agricultural supplies. The reason for this is the low prices registered for both the spring and autumn potatoes, a result of both a very large spring harvest and the larger volumes of cheap imported potatoes from France because of the.....
New Managing Director for Locus Traxx
Jan-Willem Schrijver joins the growing team as Managing Director to strengthen Locus Traxx’s position in the Europe, Middle East & Africa Market.Jan-Willem Schrijver will be responsible for growing revenue across key markets as Locus Traxx continues its ambition to build a solid customer database.....
Moldovan firms authorised to export apples to Russia
The Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary control of the Russian Federation announced on its website that ten Moldovan companies would be authorised to resume their fruit exports to the Russian market as of 26 February, putting an end to the ban enforced since 21 July last year.This has been the.....
Turkey produces 100 times more tomatoes than Bulgaria
In 2013, Turkey produced 11.82 million tonnes of tomatoes, which is a hundred times more than the entire Bulgarian production. In the same year, Bulgarian growers sold only 118,000 tonnes, while Italy, which is the largest producer of tomatoes in the EU, reported a harvest of 5.2 million tonnes. For its.....
Oceania
AU:
Strawberry season beats Mother Nature
Queensland strawberry growers are in the midst of a muddy clean-up following torrential rain on the key growing regions during ex-Tropical Cyclone Marcia, after spending the previous weeks preparing fields for planting.It will be a long, hard slog to get the fields up to scratch again after more than 400mm.....
Fiji: Eggplant sales overtake papaya
Eggplant exports exceeded papaya sales for the first time ever last year. And Michael Brown, the CEO of Nadi-based produce treatment plant Nature's Way Co-operative Ltd, said this was attributed to weather and market demand factors.Nature's Way treated, packed and exported 520 tonnes of eggplant and 453.....
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Fire ravages shed at Bay of Plenty kiwi packhouse
It took 15 fire engines and 60 firefighters to contain the blaze that hit kiwi grower Seeka Kiwifruit Industries’ Bay of Plenty (Oakside) Post-Harvest site overnight on Wednesday, March 4, leaving some facilities and the north shed wrecked. The shed was 200m x 200m in size, and part of the roof had to be.....
Crookwell potato harvest looks good
Potato growers around Crookwell, in New South Wales, are expecting a bumper harvest this year.Good seasonal conditions that included regular rain and lower temperatures have raised tonnage expectations by as much as five tonnes to the acre.Grower Troy Bensley will start harvesting his crop three to four.....
Potato consumption Western Australia grows
Potato growers in Western Australia have invested heavily in a potato marketing program aimed at stopping the decline in consumption per capita of fresh potatoes. Independent research had shown that potato consumption in Western Australia had dropped from 25 kilos / capita to less than 20 kilos / capita.....
Banana industry urged to respond on TR4
Meetings of banana growers and banana industry representatives are being held in North Queensland as part of the response to a suspected case of the soil-borne fungal disease Panama Tropical Race 4 (TR4) in Tully. The meetings will discuss details of the find of the suspected TR4 case on one Tully banana.....
AU: Businessman reignites potato debate
One of the nation’s biggest vegetable producers, Perth businessman Nick Tana, is set to reignite the debate over Western Australia’s controversial potato laws, threatening to take the state government to court if it rejects his application to enter the highly regulated market.The Australian can reveal that.....
NZ gets 24/7 fruit fly hotline
New Zealand First thanks the Ministry for Primary Industries on behalf of our primary producers for now seemingly staffing the Pest and Disease Hotline 24/7.“It seems the message finally got through to Minister Nathan Guy that the country’s Pest and Disease Hotline needs to be staffed 24/7,” says.....
NZ: MyFarm to grow kiwifruit with $5m orchard alliance
Andrew Watters says MyFarm will grow the green kiwifruit varieties. Andrew Watters says MyFarm will grow the green kiwifruit varieties.New Zealand farm investment company MyFarm, which up until now has specialised in the pastoral sector, has weighed into kiwifruit with the launch of a $5 million orchard.....
Africa
Tunisia: 1,100 broad beans exported to Italy, France and Libya in past three years
Many different products are cultivated in Tunisia, especially pulses. These represent an important source of nutrition for both humans and animals and are also used to fertilise the land.Click here to enlarge.In Tunisia, pulses mean mainly broad beans, which represent 39% (2009-2014 average) of the total.....
South Africa: Mpact share price up on improved results
The share price of paper and packaging company Mpact has increased by almost 1% on Wednesday after it announced an improvement of 14.8% in underlying operating profit to R751 million off revenue of R8.6 billion (up 12%) for the year ended December 3, 2014.Headline earnings per share of 262.7c was reported,.....
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Farm size limit proposed in S. Africa
A proposal by the South African government to limit farm size to 12,000 hectares is a "negotiating tactic" as it tries to press ahead with the redistribution of land to black farmers, the minister of agriculture said.“Whenever you are negotiating, you always put forward a figure. What informs the end of that.....
By Don Willlmott:
Transforming deserts into farmland
The prophet Isaiah once promised that the Lord would make deserts bloom like Eden, but a bunch of Norwegians may actually get the job done first.The ambitious Sahara Forest Project is developing cutting-edge food, water and energy technologies in the deserts of Qatar and Jordan in an attempt turn sand.....
World
Japanese importers get a taste for Victorian table grapes
A trade mission to stimulate Japanese demand for Australian table grapes has paid off. Agriculture Minister Jaala Pulford, the Australian Table Grape Association and Austrade last week welcomed an inbound delegation of Japanese fruit importers as part of moves to boost demand for Victoria’s table grapes.ATGA.....
Maersk Line remains most reliable carrier
Despite a challenging year with extreme weather and adverse conditions in some ports, Maersk Line remains the most reliable carrier in 2014 as revealed by the latest SeaIntel report, the company said in its press release.The 2014 global reliability results by maritime analyst SeaIntel shows that Maersk Line.....
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Record avocado harvest for New Zealand
A record breaking season for New Zealand avocados has seen 4.5 million 5.5kg trays leave the country bound for Australia (71%), the USA (14%), Japan (7%) and other Asian destinations including Singapore, Korea, Malaysia and Thailand (8%). “4.5 million trays is a record. The previous season it was 3.1 million.....
Retail
Romania retail sales rise in January
Romania's retail sales increased at the start of the year, figures from the National Institute of Statistics showed Tuesday.Retail sales excluding motor vehicles climbed a working-day and seasonally adjusted 1.6 percent month-on-month in January.Sales of food, beverages and tobacco grew 3.2 percent monthly.....
Consumer Superbrands study
M&S pain is John Lewis' gain
Marks & Spencer is no longer a top 20 consumer brand favourite in the UK, according to the annual Consumer Superbrands study conducted by The Centre for Brand Analysis.This is the first time since 2009 the UK high street retailer has been out of the top 20.While M&S has seen its customer reputation.....
SpartanNash Q4 sales grow, outlook cautious
SpartanNash on Tuesday said sales at its retail stores in Michigan returned to positive comp growth, but that acquired stores — and lapping favorable weather conditions from a year ago — would likely put comps under pressure in the current first quarter.The Grand Rapid, Mich.-based company said overall sales.....
"Grocery Code as first step"
Peak horticulture organisation Growcom today welcomed the new voluntary Grocery Code of Conduct as an important step in improving bargaining power between supermarkets and suppliers.Chief Executive Officer, Alex Livingstone, said that as an ‘opt in’ prescribed code retailers and wholesalers (although only.....
Anticipated earnings increase for Kroger
Wall Street is high on Kroger, expecting it to report earnings that are up 14% from a year ago when it reports its fourth-quarter earnings on Thursday, March 5, 2015. The consensus estimate is 89 cents per share, up from earnings of 78 cents per share a year ago.Over the past three months, the consensus.....
UK: Greggs announces strong results
UK food-to-go retailer Greggs' full year 2014 results for the 53 weeks ending 3 January 2015 show strong year-on-year sales and excellent profit growth.Total sales up 5.5% to £804mIn 2014, Greggs' total sales increased by 5.5% on the previous year, up £41.6m to £804.0m. The strong sales growth was boosted by.....
Spain: results round-up
As a number of retailers in Spain announce their 2014 full year results, we round-up how each has performed during the year.Consum turnover ‘exceeds €1.94 billion’Consum’s director of external relations, Javier Quiles, has announced that the retailer enjoyed turnover growth of 5%, taking its total to €1.94.....
Belgium, Netherlands: Ahold widens offer
As Ahold launches a new loyalty card and prepares for the launch of its online offer in Belgium, its chief executive discusses its existing online skill and scale in the Netherlands and its recently appointed chief executive for Albert Heijn in the Netherlands discusses his thoughts on how the retailer can.....
UK: Lidl hires Michelin-starred chef in bid to win middle-class shoppers
German discount supermarket Lidl has hired a Michelin-starred chef in a bid to win over more-middle class shoppers and hammer home its message of quality.UK trade paper Retail Week has reported that Kevin Love, who worked as a Lidl store manager before training to be a chef, spent three years as head chef at.....
US (MN): Target cutting HQ jobs
Target stock closed down slightly a day after the company announced several thousand employees at its Minneapolis headquarters would be losing their jobs.It’s part of a restructuring plan that the CEO is promising will change how you shop at their stores.Target is promising more organic and local foods,.....
AU: Aldi growth threat to big two
Aldi's rapid growth along the east coast of Australia and plans to expand into South Australia and Western Australia pose a serious threat to Woolworths and Coles, Moody's says.Aldi's rapid growth along the east coast of Australia and plans to expand into South Australia and Western Australia pose a serious.....
UK: Nisa brings in £100 million Costcutter stores under Tesco boss
Scunthorpe-based grocer and convenience store Nisa has announced that it has recruited over 270 former Costcutter retailers since March 2012, worth over £100 million. The group revealed earlier this month that it had welcomed 17 former Costcutter members based in Northern Ireland to the group. This comes in.....
Spar enters Indonesia
Spar International has opened three stores in Jakarta in conjunction with PT Ramayana Lestari Sentosa marking its entry into the country. SPAR and Ramayana said that the three stores were part of plans to be operating 15 in Indonesia by the end of 2015.Stores are conversions of existing Ramayana-owned.....
Carrefour eyes higher 2015 capex after 2014 profit rises
Carrefour, the world's second-largest retailer, said it would boost capital expenditure this year as it seeks to cement a revival of its European hypermarkets and expand in the key emerging market of Brazil.Europe's biggest retailer also proposed raising its 2014 dividend by 7.9 percent to 0.68 euros a share.....
Restructuring program cuts Delhaize profit
Belgian supermarket chain Delhaize has seen its 2014 profits halved to 89 million euro net as a result of the restructuring program in its home market and the subsequent strikes.Quarterly loss of 55 million euroDelhaize had already revealed its most essential results at the end of January: company turnover.....
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