The season for imported new potatoes has started recently. Apart from Egypt and Morocco, Cyprus has been playing a significant role for German retail for many years. For specialist Marco Stahl of the Stuttgart wholesale company TSIOURVAS GmbH & Co, spring is traditionally the peak season. However, business has become more and more challenging.
Regular shipments from Cyprus have been arriving at the Stuttgart wholesale market area since November. Slowly but surely, the peak season is coming up, but the current market situation for early potatoes area is difficult: "Due to the weather in Cyprus, there are not too much commodities around. There were price increases -of at least 20 percent- compared to last year. In the last few weeks, there was also a lot of rain, which has partially hampered clearing. Goods shortages in general are noticeable since the beginning of December. However, the quality of the available potatoes is good," says Stahl.
Weather conditions as a challenge of the future
With regard to varieties, marketers will find it hard to stand out with imported goods, because in Cyprus primarily the conventional variety Annabelle is grown. However, the very good quality of the Cyprus product is an important selling point. "In contrast to other growing countries like Egypt, cultivation in Cyprus is rather small. We must adapt to these prices to some extent. "More worrying are the extreme weather conditions of today's age, which are also clearly felt this year." The future challenge for us, marketers, will be to provide consistent quality and reliable service."
Quality remains crucial
The Stuttgart-based company supplies early potatoes from contract cultivation, primarily to the food retail trade and to the wholesale trade. With over 40 years of experience, the wholesaler has made a name for itself in both segments. "The wholesale market is getting smaller and food retailing is gaining in importance - this change has been noticeable for quite a while now. In every area, there are premium programs, because the quality requirements are not significantly different."
For more information:
TSIOURVAS GmbH & Co
Manager: Marco Stahl
Langwiesenweg 28 - 70327 Stuttgart-Grossmarkt
Telephone: 0711 / 464309
Telefax: 0711 / 484571
Email: marco-stahl@tsiourvas.de
www.tsiourvas.de