It has been a slow January in the fruit trade, but this is normal, according to Ben Goodchild from Nationwide Produce.
"The weather in Spain has been unseasonably cold again, with night temperatures down to four degrees and day temperatures between 11-12 degrees," said Ben. "On the positive side, there is a lot of green fruit on the plants, so when they do get some sunshine, we will get good arrivals in time for Valentine's Day, which is always short. This will be good news for the Spanish growers who had a terrible season last year."
UK importers have again faced import tariffs on Egyptian strawberries as the quota ran out before Christmas this season, despite there not being a lot of other fruit around in the main Egyptian season.
Morocco is also a bit short on strawberry production; they should be in the bulk of their production by now, but are running 2-3 weeks behind.
"The UK now has a couple of companies producing strawberries year-round, but it's an expensive operation and doesn't begin to cover the UK demand for strawberries. The fruit they grow is lovely and a real credit to innovation in farming in the UK, but the growers need more backing as they just can't compete with imports in the winter.
"South African strawberries had a good season, and we saw an expansion of Ethiopian strawberries imported. The Ethiopian fruit may not be cheaper, but they are a good contingency at this time of the year if there are issues with the Egyptian supply." Ben and the team will be at Fruit Logistica this year, all 3 days, if you should wish to arrange a meeting about potential collaboration with himself of the wider team at Nationwide Produce.
For more information:
Ben Goodchild
Nationwide Produce
Tel: +44 (0)1386 424800
Email: [email protected]
www.nationwideproduce.com
