The marketing window for citrus from the northern hemisphere is gradually drawing to a close. "The Spanish season will come to an end in the next two weeks, and the last Israeli orris will be arriving soon," says René Schmidtlein, joint managing director of the family-owned company of the same name at the Nuremberg wholesale market.
At Easter, there was a short-lived supply gap regarding citrus, Schmidtlein continues. "The marketing situation then quickly returned to normal after the Easter holidays. In line with the approaching end of the season, citrus prices are now rising noticeably. Nevertheless, since we work with reliable partners, consistent quality is still a given. Each fruit is very firm and beautiful."
Navel Powell oranges from Spain (l) Orri clementines from Israel.
Another highlight in the current receiving area, he said, are Costa Rican pineapples, which are available in two brands. "For fresh consumption, we offer Fruit Point brand fruit, but customers who want to market their pineapples as pre-cut, tend to go for the slightly less expensive Dole pineapple. In both cases, however, these are high-quality products with excellent coloration," Schmidtlein adds.
Fruit Point brand pineapples
Regional produce from southern Germany
Due to the weather, demand for regional produce is rather restrained, the fruit wholesaler admits. "The cold snap has obviously restricted business from Easter onwards: asparagus and strawberries are marketed less than usual, while storage apples from the Lake Constance district continue to be well received. For Italian salad goods, we stopped last week due to seasonal factors, because direct marketers now offer enough greenhouse produce from the surrounding garlic country at the wholesale market."
"In general, of course, the Corona situation is giving us a hard time: Before Easter, the incidence value in the district of Nuremberg was 80-90, meanwhile we are at 110 again. Our customers already notice that consumers are getting annoyed and unsettled, not least because there are always new regulations being enforced."
The vehicle park
Growing range of fruit exotics
At 01.01.2021 a generational change took place at Früchte Schmidtlein Ltd. Although father Raimund Schmidtlein is still active in the company, René and his sister Nadja now officially head the company as 4th managers. "Everyone has their own area of responsibility; for example, I look after our exotic assortment. In general, we have gradually expanded our product range since the beginning of the year and we will continue to pursue this strategy in the coming years."
For more information:
Früchte Schmidtlein GmbH
René Schmidtlein
Großmarkt / Halle 2 / Box 37-40
Leyerstraße 107
90431 Nürnberg
Tel: 09 11/31 14 04 + 31 33 52
Mobile: 01 71/8 92 54 61
rene.schmidtlein1@gmail.com
http://www.fruechte-schmidtlein.de/