Although some orchards had some real difficulties with the aftermath of the frosts in Poland, thankfully, availability is still good, says Mateusz Wajnert, head of sales for Polish apple exporter Galster: "We're pleased with what we managed to gather after the harvest. In our orchards, the situation was quite right. We also cooperate with many growers from different areas, mostly from the north-central Poland, and the situation looked very different there. I saw my partners' orchards, which had normal crops, but I've also visited some whose orchards only had a few, or even single apples at the top of the tree; the rest of them were frozen. So we diversified our areas a bit, and finally we have similar supplies available that we had in previous years, without any crop failures or limited supply."
Wajnert emphasizes that the demand for apples is really strong at the moment, but the exporter is mostly supplying their existing clients. "The most popular variety that buyers are searching for right now is for sure the Gala Royal apple, the leader of the bunch. We've also had many requests for the most red varieties of Red Delicious. I must admit that the demand is really high right now. Especially for long transit shipments. We're working with markets where we have long relationships, as such the most of our apples go to either the Middle East or European countries. We have done some trial containers to Colombia for the first time in our history, which we're very happy with."
The fact that some other countries have lower production could be a factor of the solid demand at the moment: "Of course, we're monitoring the situation of suppliers from other countries. As I stated earlier, demand is really good right now. I think that many factors contribute to this, and the situation with Turkish apples is certainly also a factor. We will follow further developments in the situation, but for us, nothing changes. We have an open mind for new challenges that come our way, but our focus is on our old, known partners, in order to provide them with good service and a reliable product," Wajnert concludes.
For more information:
Mateusz Wajnert
Galster Sp. z o.o.
Tel: +48 66 00 42 551
Email: [email protected]
www.galster.pl
