"Michel Schrijnemakers: "Apple harvest is dissappointing"

The top fruit season is off to a good start! "The remaining apples have gone so the new harvest comes to an empty market! That is good because everything brings very good prices!" said Auction Director Michel Schrijnemakers from Auction South-Limburg. "We have started with the Delcorf and its variation Sissired, the latter brings prices up to over a Euro. There are now also variations of Jonagold on the market and we have started with the first Elstar and the prices are also going towards the Euro."

Apple harvest Smaller
"The first reports from the growers though is that the apple harvest is going to be disappointing. There are not many apples in the trees, due to the Spring frost. The apples just got too cold and far too many fell from the trees. Therefore with fewer harvested, there will be more demand than availability. This in all likelihood will result in good prices. Where apples are concerned we can pretty much get exactly the same prices as last year," predicts Michel.

Size of pears lags behind
"We have more pears, only they are smaller in size due to the dry weather we had," said the Auction Director. "In general there are more pears growing in the trees. I am therefore sure to expect that Grove pears will fetch good to very good prices. For the rest we will have to see. It is still very early in the season and we are just getting started."

The supply at Auction South-Limburg will follow the line as last year. "We will see a few more apples and pears offered. In the apples this comes with the growth of brand Jumani. Those trees are a year older and have a higher volume. Furthermore, we are close to the storage volume of last year," stated Michel.

For more information
Cooperatieve Fruitveiling Zuid-Limburg
Aan de Fremme 33
6269 BK Margraten
Tel: +31 43 458588
Fax: +31 43 4588599
info@veilingzl.nl
www.veilingzl.nl

Publication date: Tue 17 Sep 2013