On this last day of yet another of these unusual weeks, we are able to report on the situation in Portugal, where the government wants to rewards growers -whose fields are brimming with berries- who give to charity. In the UK, frozen chips maker McCain Foods furloughs staff of several factories. The Croatian kuna has shed 2% of its value against the euro in March, while in the US, Western Growers President and CEO David Puglia has stated that farmers are going to need ongoing financial relief until the nation’s restaurants reopen.
These stories, and many more, as we near the Easter weekend. Have a good one.
Portugal rewards growers giving to charity as fields brim with berries
Portuguese berry growers unable to sell their produce because of the coronavrius lockdown will be compensated at 40% of the market price if they donate it to charity, the agriculture ministry said.
Restrictions on travel because of the novel coronavirus have left the country with few workers, many of whom come from outside of the European Union, for the berry-picking season. The agriculture ministry is encouraging the Portuguese to buy local produce, but consumers are avoiding fresh fruit as they limit their shopping trips to try to avoid contagion.
Restrictive measures in Portugal and other countries have led to a drastic drop in demand just as the fields fill with ripe berries.
"Blueberry season starts in a week or two, and prospects are pretty dark," Luis Pinheiro, head of an association of 42 berry growers, stated, adding the group will deliver ten tonnes of raspberries to a food bank in Lisbon next week.
UK: Chips maker McCain Foods furloughs Whittlesey staff
Frozen chips giant McCain Foods, which has 1,600 staff at its factories in Funthams Lane, Whittlesey, and at Grantham, Hull and Scarborough, says it will reduce its production until demand returns.
It says the call for its frozen potato products is up from supermarkets and other food retailers but the fall in sales from restaurants and pubs during the coronavirus crisis has left overall demand significantly down.
A spokesperson for McCain Foods UK said: “As the UK’s largest manufacturer of frozen potato products, McCain is the branded category leader in both the retail sector and the out of home sector, where we supply a significant proportion of the country’s restaurants, pubs and other food service outlets. While we continue to see strong sales of our products in supermarkets and retailers across the country, as a result of the shutting down of the hospitality sector, total demand has been significantly reduced.”
Croatia: Currency weakens 2% versus euro in March
Croatia's kuna currency has shed 2% of its value against the euro in March amidst uncertainty caused by the coronavirus pandemic that has led to high volatility on international financial markets, central bank HNB said. At the same time, yields and risk premium on government bonds also rose, HNB said in a statement on Wednesday.
The central bank noted that it has taken a number of monetary policy moves since the beginning of March to support the liquidity and stability of the country's financial system, including five interventions on the currency exchange market, selling a total of 2.5 billion euro ($2.7 billion) to local banks last month to support the weakening kuna.
In addition, it carried out a five-year structural open market operation, selling 3.8 billion kuna ($542 million/498 million euro) to domestic lenders, and placed a further 1.85 billion kuna via regular weekly repo auctions in March.
Furthermore, HNB cut the mandatory reserves requirement to 9% from previous 12% in order to provide additional liquidity to local banks and repurchased 4.29 billion kuna of Treasury bonds in order to maintain the stability on the government debt market.
US farmers will need relief to stay afloat, says industry leader
While farmers are facing economic hardship due to the coronavirus shutdown, Western Growers President and CEO David Puglia said on Thursday that they are going to need ongoing financial relief until restaurants reopen.
“The question is when will the economy reopen and how quickly will it reopen and how many of those restaurants are going to come back?” Puglia stated.
Meanwhile, thousands of acres of fruits and vegetables grown in Florida are being plowed over or left to rot because farmers can’t sell to restaurants, theme parks or schools nationwide that have closed because of the coronavirus.
Commissioner Nikki Fried creates site to help Florida farmers
Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried announced a new plan directly connecting farmers and producers together due to the recent closures of most restaurants and other food-service industry companies.
The COVID-19 pandemic has put a great deal of stress on the restaurant industry leaving agricultural producers with unsold perishable fruits and vegetables.
The Florida Department of Agriculture says, “The Florida Farm to You commodities list is updated daily with Florida-grown products including tomatoes, watermelons, lettuce, blueberries, oysters, chicken, tilapia, and more.”
“We have worked tirelessly to support Florida’s farmers during COVID-19 by connecting them with buyers and consumers, and our Florida Farm to You commodities list is the latest way we’re doing so,” said Commissioner Nikki Fried.
Demand for Egyptian fruit and veg severely affected
Egypt has been exporting goods, vegetables, fruits and fish to a number of countries all over the world which severely affected with the global crises of COVID-19 pandemic, a source from Cairo Airport Cargo Company revealed.
The source added that the countries include the Gulf states along with large number of European countries, including Germany, France, England and the Netherlands, especially after most of other exporters stopped exporting food, such as Spain, Israel, Turkey and Morocco, due to the widespread of Coronavirus within their borders.
Click here to read the full article.
India: Foodstuff volumes plunge despite strong efforts
Arrivals of agricultural commodities at key markets have fallen to a fraction of levels seen before a 21-day nationwide lockdown was imposed, data analysed by BloombergQuint showed. The drop in arrivals of agricultural commodities signals a disrupted supply chain ahead of the crucial harvesting season. This, despite food items being classified as essential commodities. Broken supply chains are also leading to greater volatility in prices, particularly for perishable items. Data collated by BloombergQuint from Agmarknet, a government portal on agricultural marketing, shows a 15-76 percent decline in arrivals in the week of April 1-6 compared to the week of March 1-6.
Overall, the total arrivals of major cereals, fruits and vegetables recorded across market centres fell to 309,000 tonnes in the first week of April. This is 55.6 percent lower than arrivals seen a month ago. The steepest fall has been seen in the case of maize and wheat. Vegetables like tomatoes, potatoes, cabbage and cauliflower have also seen a sharp decline in arrivals. The data is based on daily reports provided by 800 markets. About 3,200 markets didn’t provide daily updates.
Dubai airport lets in more flights to bring in food and medicines
Dubai International (DXB) is facilitating an increase in the number of cargo flights to boost the volume of perishables and pharmaceuticals coming in to maintain Dubai’s supply chains during challenging times.
All through March 2020, the volume of fruit and vegetables handled at DXB increased by 88.5 per cent (18,164 tonnes) year on year, while the volume of pharmaceuticals also increased by 49.4 per cent (12,500 tonnes) driven mainly by increased global demand for medical supplies and equipment as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. The volume of meat products also grew by 17.8 per cent to 8,050 tonnes during the month.
Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports, said “We have moved quickly to facilitate the replacement of cargo capacity that is normally provided in the underfloor cargo holds of passenger aircraft by accommodating a number of dedicated cargo flights to keep the supply of food, supplies and equipment flowing into the UAE during the current unprecedented global crisis.”
Fruit plan focuses on Thailand’s domestic market
The Commerce Ministry, together with the Agriculture Ministry, has been working on a fruit management plan, focusing on the domestic market to offset exports hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.
Sansern Samalapa, vice-minister of commerce, said the plan will cover production management; distribution channels; business matching among traders, importers and Thai operators; financial support; and safety standards. Mr Sansern on Thursday called a meeting with government agencies and companies, including the Transport Ministry, Grab Thailand and Thailand Post, to ask for cooperation on fruit management during harvesting season.
The government will offer leniency to a certain extent in labour movements, particularly for farm workers and fruit pickers; exercise the Price of Goods and Services Act to ensure fair trade competition; and promote contract farming and the linkage between farmers, processors, traders and supermarkets.
For the distribution channel, Thailand Post will be tasked with handling fruit delivery with the state subsidising the delivery fee, while producers will be upgraded and trained to sell more via online platforms and social media.
India: Truck rentals for fruits and vegetables soar by 75-85%
Truck rentals for essential items like fruits and vegetables have shot up by 75-85 per cent against the rates prevailing till March 15. The rentals have risen despite waiver of toll fee, motor vehicle taxes, deferment of equal monthly instalments on truck loan and third party insurance policy cover on vehicles, said SP Singh, Senior Fellow, Indian Foundation of Transport Research and Training (IFTRT).
Trucks are charging rentals for return load as well, said Singh. This is despite fleet owners paying transporters far below mandatory minimum wages as required under the Motor Transport Workers Act.
Arrivals of onion, potato, mango, banana down 50-95% in India
National daily arrivals of several crops like onion, potato, apple, banana and mango are down by 50-95 per cent compared to last year since the lockdown on March 24, due to lack of trucks and shortage of labour.
According to a research report by Credit Suisse, with the rabi harvest season now in full swing, market arrivals should be picking up. However, despite anecdotal evidence of a bumper harvest, market arrivals are down 50-95 percent year on year.
There are other issues like in the Lasalgaon onion market near Nashik, the market itself being shut down because of a case of Covid-19 nearby. With lower incomes during the lockdown, currently demand for perishables is likely to be weak anyway, particularly from restaurants, but that is a minor reason for the drop in arrivals, Credit Suisse said.
Emirates SkyCargo loads maximum cargo in Boeing 777 belly
Emirates SkyCargo's team at Karachi broke a global record for maximum cargo loaded in the lower deck of a Boeing 777-300ER passenger aircraft. The team helped transport just under 62 tonnes of cargo, primarily food items including vegetables, fish and meat, on a single flight bound to Dubai.
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Malaysian farmers should use social media to market produce
Pineapple farmers in Malaysia are encouraged to make use of social media as a marketing platform for them to sell their products and not depend entirely on wholesalers. This is after a large supply of pineapples produced by farmers went to waste as logistics and sales have been restricted under the movement control order (MCO).
Farmer and founder of Fionanas (M) Sdn Bhd Iskandar Zulkarnain, 47, said that farmers should work extra hard during these trying times in order to survive and stay in business. “The oversupply was due to lack of mobility during the restriction order and because fewer people are coming out. As such, we have to be more aggressive in terms of marketing, especially on social media so that we can continue to generate sales and income,” he said, adding that he had started selling pineapples door-to-door using the Cash on Delivery (COD) method.
