The very high daytime temperatures in Greece (25 degrees continuously) have led to an exceptionally early start of the harvest on the strawberry plantations over there. Therefore, the first tunnel goods from Greece will arrive in Munich today, three weeks earlier than last year, says direct importer Theo Hatzivassiliadis of Hans Kuffer LLC. He sees good marketing opportunities in the current trade, he says on demand.
This year's outdoor season for German strawberries is long over and greenhouse strawberries from local cultivation would be rather less on the (south) German fresh markets. "There is limited competition in the market for Dutch and Belgian greenhouse products," says Hatzivassiliadis, who now offers the Florida Beauty and Fortuna varieties at an early stage. From late December onwards we will continue with other varieties - i.a. Splendor, Camarosa and Savana - which can usually be harvested and marketed until June.
Owner Peter Kuffer shows the Greek strawberries at the stall at FreshPlaza's wholesale market visit in December 2017.
High quality, but cheap
The goods are purchased directly from their own contract cultivation or from two producer cooperatives in the Manolada region (in the northwest of the Peloponnese peninsula). "The great taste and quality of Greek strawberries are becoming increasingly popular with wholesalers. In addition, the Greeks harvest a relatively high proportion of medium to large strawberries, although the products from the tunnel construction there are significantly cheaper compared to the Dutch and Belgian greenhouse strawberries."
Greek kiwis: good market position
Parallel to the first strawberry strawberries, Hans Kuffer Fruchthandel LLC currently also offers kiwis from Greece. The kiwi campaign started about a month ago with the variety Greenlight. The marketing of kiwis has been quite successful so far, confirms Hatzivassiliadis. "With Chile already ending the season and supply from New Zealand coming to an end, Greek batches are in great demand."
Kiwis are traded in the order of 3kg, 5kg and 10x1kg. The season is expected to be over in April.
Now the harvest of the next variety -Hayward- is imminent: "These are currently only available from Italy and Greece. The interest in this variety also seems to be relatively large."
For more information:
Hans Kuffer Fruchthandel GmbH
GF: Peter Kuffer & Theo Hatzivassiliadis
Großmarkthalle - Halle I
Stand 5 & 6, 15 & 16
Schäftlarnstr. 10, 81371 München
Tel: +49 89 / 74 11 83 90 und
+49 89 / 77 41 75
Fax.: +49 89 / 74 11 83 93 und
+49 89 / 77 41 72
Email: info@kuffer24.de
www.kuffer24.com