Irish fruit and vegetable grower, Donnelly, has secured a deal to supply ALDI with Irish pumpkins for the 4th year in a row. Donnelly will supply around 100,000 Irish pumpkins to the retailer this season.
“We grow pumpkins for ALDI on 20 hectares and make up 24% of the total supply to the retailer. We will be the sole supplier of the white ‘ghost’ pumpkin, this is the first year ALDI will have 100% Irish supply of this variety. In addition we will also supply Musgrave with Irish Pumpkins for their Centra stores,” said Paul Hussey, Senior Trading Manager at the company.
“The growing season has been okay, the last two weeks were very sunny which helped with the colouring of the pumpkin crop. We are about a week behind last year, but will still have plenty of pumpkins available at the end of September with volumes up 25% on last year.”
Paul said he is apprehensive about the current transport and labour situation. “The COVID pandemic has meant that the net immigration has decreased so there is less seasonal labour available, this across the board from retail to hospitality, packing to harvesting. Brexit has also made it more challenging and costly for imports, as there are delays and more paperwork to deal with.”
For more information:
Paul Hussey
Donnelly Fruit & Veg
Tel: +353 1 8908100
Email: paul.hussey@donnelly.ie
www.donnelly.ie