"Shortage of quality blackberries and raspberries not yet over"

Where the soft fruit market is usually a constant, good market with a few peaks at this time of year, that is not the case at the moment. This is according to Ronald van Vossen of Dutch fresh producer wholesaler, FruitWorld. "The situation varies greatly per product. For instance, blackberries and raspberries, are hard to come by at the moment, while there is an abundance of Chilean blueberries. The Spanish strawberry season has really taken off now. It did start a bit late, but there are large volumes on the market now. It is getting increasingly difficult for Dutch importers to play any significant role in this market since almost all the Spanish businesses supply their European customers directly."

FruitWorld currently gets their raspberries from their own farmers in Tanzania. "In addition to our first farm, we established a second one last year. The first eleven of its 45 hectares is now in production. It is going exceptionally well. We are getting 100% more volume than we expected", says Ronald. "This year, production is going to quadruple. I visited there recently and was impressed by how work has progressed. Last year, there was nothing, and now there is a professional farm. It is the pride and joy of our company! We could deliver all year round but to avoid the driest and wettest seasons of the year, our production period is from October to June."

FruitWorld can fulfil their obligations with regard to blackberries thanks to agreements with Mexican cooperatives. "The shortages in quality blackberries and raspberries will continue in the next weeks", Ronald expects. With blueberries, things are still up in the air. "If volumes from Morocco and Spain get going, prices will come under pressure. The market is fluctuating wildly and a gap between the Peruvian and Chilean seasons caused a hike in prices. The United States and Asia are major buyers of Chilean berries. The Chilean season is well on its way, but the berries quality is, on average, not as good this year. This is due to the large amounts of rainfall during the blossoming stage. Everyone needs to do all they can to deliver programmes with good berries."

For more information:
Ronald van Vossen
Fruit World
Tel: +31 (0)765 231 570
r.vanvossen@fruitworld.nl
www.fruitworld.nl