The Swedish danced their way to record high strawberry sales as part of their annual Midsummer celebrations last Friday (24 June). “Local Swedish strawberries together with imported fruit from the Netherlands and Belgium sold for very high prices. Even lower priced strawberries from Poland sold well,” says a very satisfied Daniel Larsson, head of purchase and co-owner of Hebe Frukt & Grönsaker AB based in Sweden.
“Midsummer is always on the last Friday of the month of June. We celebrate it in a huge way here in Sweden. It is the biggest sales day of the year, even bigger than Easter and Christmas. We sell a lot of strawberries, fresh potatoes, dill and a lot of vegetables and melons. It is especially Swedish strawberries and fresh potatoes sales that are huge. During these days, it all starts with the Swedish strawberries because the weather and temperature is nice from May and June to produce as much as possible just for this week. The demand is so big, it is tricky to get all the fields and harvests ready for a few days. We are picking up to ten times more strawberries than usual during this week.”
“We made a new record in sales of strawberries this year. There was even a bit of a shortage in strawberries, but with good cooperation with our growers we were still able to supply supermarkets. The quality was really nice this year as well as the colour. The prices were pretty high. The Dutch and Belgian prices were also high. Although the Polish strawberries had lower prices, everybody benefited from the hype and increased sales,” recounts an excited Larsson.
According to Emma Larsson, social media manager of Hebe Frukt & Grönsaker AB, the annual celebrations go hand in hand with Midsummer. “Thank you to all our lovely customers who have given us the confidence to deliver this Midsummer Week as well! Many thanks also to our awesome staff and growers. We enjoy the flavors of fresh primroses, herring, seafood and berries. The Midsummer buffet offers given dishes such as herring & new potatoes with accessories, herring cake, Jansson's temptation, salmon, egg halves and finally some form of dessert with strawberries. After dancing around the midsummer flower tree and playing various games, you usually get a little hungry again. Then it's time to light the grill (weather permitting).”
The company also made available on their website a collection of their midsummer recipes as well as some other things that they hope can inspire new traditions on the midsummer table: https://www.hebe.se/recept-midsommar/
For more information:
Daniel Larsson
Hebe Frukt & Grönsaker AB
Tel: +46 (0) 31-780 27 00
Email: daniel.larsson@hebe.se