"The demand for grapes is okay at the moment, but we are all backed to the wall, because starting next week, the Spanish season begins.The whole amount from Egypt must be marketed until then," said a spokesman for ABC Fresh GmbH, based in Hamburg, and De Lier in the Netherlands.
The season for Egyptian grapes had been very difficult this year, according to the expert: "We had some major delays - there was a real logistical chaos, with shipping delays and lack of capacity for deletion in the ports, it was a permanent race against time to deliver the goods to our customers." The trader now fears that all late deliveries will arrive at the same time and the market will become oversaturated. Add to that the competition of deliveries from Europe, ie Spain and Italy. "A second factor in the delays was the climate in Egypt: the temperatures were relatively low in March and April, and the difference between the temperatures during the day and at night was insufficient, so the fruits ripened / stained later then, unfortunately, it coincided with the festival of fasting, when the harvest lay still for 4-5 days."
"I've visited Egypt several times this year, and we've managed to keep a good overview of the situation and was able to fulfil 80% of our programs. Colleagues who took things less seriously in the end had to fly in the goods - that certainly cost a fortune."
ABC Fresh sources grapes from many different countries: "We start with Brazil, then we continue with Peru, Namibia, South Africa, India, Chile and finally Egypt, after which the high season is over for us, because grapes are our most important product . "
"Because we have programs, the quantities of grapes we deliver are reasonable, but in general, grapes are less popular at this time of the year because there are simply other fruits in focus, especially at these temperatures, grapes are not much sought after," the spokesman says. "Given the climate and logistics factors, prices are slightly higher this year, especially as the demand was higher than supply because of the delays, but since we're mainly into programs, that was not a big problem for us."
Variety variety in the trade
The special distinction between varieties has not yet fully arrived in Germany. "Sure, there are some varieties or brands that differentiate themselves, but most of the time, retail in Germany is not so keen on it.. It is only about white coreless, red seedless, black seedless and distinguished Red Globe."
Egypt has only a relatively short marketing season in the German market, so there is little room to try new varieties: "From Peru we get five months of grapes, because then you can try something new and test Egypt on the other side Produced mainly for Europe - the demand for a wide range of varieties is not as developed there as, for example, in the United States, and people like to pay more for a specific variety. " In the case of ABC Fresh, it is usually specialized customers who then order smaller quantities of a new or unusual variety.
A look into the future
"Our goal as a company is to do more and more independent import, and we did a great job this year, and our growth was very satisfactory." Bio also plays an increasingly important role in our company - and now makes up over 20% of our sales." Meanwhile, the company is Demeter certified as well. In the future it would like to take steps to expand more.
For more information:
ABC Fresh GmbH
Lippeltstr. 1
20097 Hamburg
+49 (40) 30 70 96 80
info@abcfresh.de
www.abcfresh.de