The season of Italian vegetable imports is gathering speed: In the course of the KW 42, the first vegetable crops from Italian cultivation arrived at the Hamburg wholesale market, starting this week, the first lettuce (including Lolo Rosso & Bionda, Frisée) will be available. This was reported by the management of the local Hafru company.
Fresh vegetable products from Italian cultivation / Image: Hafru LLC.
Radicchio, fennel, Swiss chard, celery, parsley and radishes were purchased for the first time from Italian cultivation last week. The availability of these vegetable crops is quite pleasing and the interest among Hamburg's wholesale customers is now rising rapidly. "The vegetables from German harvests are getting scarcer and also the quality leaves some wishes unfulfilled, which is why many traders are already switching to Italian imported goods, but some also have reliable producers who can supply greenhouse products for a little while longer," is how one could characterise the current situation in the vegetable trade.
Season ending in April
Hafru is a pure import enterprise and offers predominantly goods from southern Europe -as well as overseas- to its wide range of customers (gastro customers, retail branches, specialized retailers and weekly market feeders) . The first imported vegetables of the year are traditionally more in the high-priced segment, confirmed on demand. "As soon as more is available, prices fall gradually, but at the moment when the Italian campaign starts, the market is at a normal price level," they say. Depending on the weather conditions, Italian vegetable products are available until April.
Herbs & field salad for Christmas
As far as Italian vegetable products are concerned, the well-tried premium brands continue to dominate what's happening, and they continue to observe it. In the current Hafru offer one will find u.a. Eboli, Dea, Geofur and Miss Freschezza, where the latter label tends to be priced slightly higher. At the product level, especially parsley and radicchio can currently be sold quite fast. "During the pre-Christmas weeks traditionally a lot of herbal products - such as parsley and dill - and Italian lamb's lettuce are sold."
For more information:
HAFRU Hanseatische Frucht- Vertriebsgesellschaft mbH
Inh. Volker Kliewer
Banksstr. 28
20097 Hamburg-Hammerbrook
(040) 32 58 03-0
volkerkliewer@hafru.de
https://instagram.com/hafru_/