The year 2025 is drawing to a close, and the first cautious annual assessments are already being made. "In terms of marketing, I would say that 2025 was not outstanding. Compared to the previous year, there were significantly more ups and downs, which in turn had a negative impact on planning reliability," says Jörg Sailer, owner and managing director of the two companies based at the Munich wholesale market, Fruchthandel Burkert and ALPHA Fruit GmbH.
Due to a shortage of goods, the wholesale market attracted more attention in the first two months of the year. However, March and April were significantly weaker, partly due to the late Easter holiday. During the summer holidays, business was once again booming. "In general, we are seeing a decline in sales in the catering industry, but also in specialist retailers. Many restaurants are not fully booked at Christmas, and even some that close completely during the holidays, which would have been unthinkable a few years ago. Catering businesses and specialist retailers that were already regularly behind with their payments are now tending to give up," he outlines.
Successful onion campaign
Sailer has been at the helm of Fruchthandel Burkert, an established company specializing in wholesale and services, for many years. Since the end of 2022, Sailer has been operating a second wholesale business called ALPHA Fruit GmbH with a traditional stall. The core competence of the young company is the procurement and marketing of Austrian sweet onions. "Spanish onions were particularly scarce this year, while our producer partners in Austria recorded predominantly good yields. This meant that the flow of goods was continuous from the start of the harvest, even though there were some initial problems because the fields were sometimes too wet."
With Austrian sweet onions, ALPHA Fruit GmbH has found a stable market segment, confirms Sailer (pictured).
There was a two-month gap between the end of the season and the start of the new harvest in mid-July. Sailer: "We were able to fill this gap with Dutch onions, which are slightly smaller than the Austrian products. We mainly source 75-105 calibrated onions from the Netherlands, while we primarily source 80+ sweet onions from Austria." Prices for Austrian loads have been fairly stable for almost two months and are in the mid-range. Sailer does not expect any significant price increases in the run-up to Christmas either.
Significant price increases for fruit vegetables
However, the price trend is different in the fruit vegetable sector; the committed fruit trader continues. "Prices have exploded in some cases: Eggplants are trading at around twice the price compared to the same period last year, and cucumber prices have almost tripled. Iceberg lettuce, peppers, and zucchini are also currently trading at quite high prices. The only exception is tomatoes, where both Turkish and Spanish imports as well as products from lit cultivation in Belgium and the Netherlands are on offer."
The future of Munich's wholesale market
Meanwhile, uncertainty about the future of the local wholesale market is dominating discussions on the ground, confirms Sailer, who is also a member of the Bavarian Fruit Association, the representative body for regional fruit traders. Following the withdrawal of the Büschl Group, the future of the fresh produce center is hanging in the balance, and with it the livelihoods of many. "In terms of the local infrastructure, but also the condition of the halls themselves, the current wholesale market is no longer up to date. So we urgently need a functioning construct, whether at the current location or elsewhere. A city with over a million inhabitants, like Munich, needs a wholesale market that takes care of essential services and security of supply while also offering a high degree of diversity and quality."
According to the fruit trader, the city of Munich has still not unanimously committed itself to the wholesale market. "As a result, we lack political understanding of our situation and the function of such a fresh produce center. Without the wholesale market, there is a risk that, for example, the Viktualienmarkt in its current form could also cease to exist at some point. In this respect, it is not only the continued existence of the wholesale market that is at stake, but an entire value chain. In addition, the wholesale market stands for active integration and is also an essential pillar of support for the Munich Food Bank. So we can only hope that there will be a solution in the near future," he concludes.
For more information:
Jörg Sailer
Fruchthandel Burkert
Munich Wholesale Market
Phone: +49 (0) 89-66562298
Mail: [email protected]
www.fruchthandel-burkert.de
ALPHA Fruit GmbH
Wholesale Market Munich
M: +49 - 170 388 99 31
[email protected]
