With higher prices for Polish apples, there hasn't been much to complain about according to Marcin Swiatek, of Polish apple exporter Bialski Owoc: "It was a really nice apple season for us. The price was a little higher than last season. In my opinion there was no reason to complain. Right now, we are still making overseas shipments to Saudi Arabia, India and the Emirates, but it is going towards the end at the moment. This is why we work with chain stores in Europe, all year round."
Although the Red Sea is an issue, Bialski mostly have their contracts with European clients and don't expect major issues in selling all of their apple stocks, Swiatek explains. "Our strategy is to supply apples to our customers just like agreed before. Some of them expect us to supply all year round, so for us, our sales aren't as tied to market trends or sudden changes. We do have other challenges though. As per usual, each year we are struggling with a lack of labor force. Sometimes there are some small problems with the quality of fruits, but because we own the most modern sorting machines, we are always able to get rid of the affected apples. We've built a new packhouse with a huge AWETA machine, with 46 water channels for the pre-sorting of apples."
Looking ahead, the summer fruit season is coming up for Bialski Owoc, but Swiatek states they're also looking at improving their apple operation: "We're already in preparations for the upcoming summer fruits. We export strawberries, raspberries and blueberries. We want to improve our efficiency to supply more customers for these products as well. Furthermore, we have couple of ideas how to improve the quality of our apples, or rather the shelf life of packed apples, which is especially important when shipping the apples overseas."
For more information:
Marcin Swiatek
Bialski Owoc
Tel: +48 533 205 500
Email: m.swiatek@bialskiowoc.com
www.bialskiowoc.com