Better prices, solid demand, and sufficient supply are some of the positive characteristics of the current Greek cucumber season, says Nick Nafpliotis, company director of fresh produce exporter Greek & Fresh: "The Greek cucumber season started after mid-October, and until now it has been very good, highlighted by increased prices, volumes, and good demand. The yield per hectare was a bit smaller than it was in the previous season, but the total acreage in Greece increased by 15% compared to last year. Overall, we harvested more cucumbers, despite the lower yield."
The demand for cucumbers was very strong from mid-November onwards, Nafpliotis explains. "There was a small slump in the second and third week of January, but now it's getting better again. Our main export market is the Baltic region, and secondary Denmark, and we are very much interested in entering Finnish and Swedish markets. Overall, we're concentrating on our efforts in the Baltics and Scandinavian countries. We're mainly working with supermarkets, although we have a very good importer in Denmark that we do business with as well."
This season did have much higher prices compared to last year, Nafpliotis states: "There was a continuous escalation of prices from mid-November until Christmas, which was very unusual and stressful because it created a lot of losses for the exporters. This was attributed mainly to the production problems in Spain, due to the bad weather conditions. This reduced supply in a period where demand was getting stronger every week, as we were approaching the Christmas holidays."
© Greek & Fresh
"Although prices now are about 10-15% lower than the peak of December, we expect good demand until February. We also hope that March will be good, because Easter is a bit earlier this year, and due to the very cold winter until now, there is a possibility that northern European production may be reduced during March," Nafpliotis concludes.
Greek and Fresh will be exhibiting during Fruit Logistica in Berlin. You can find their booth in hall 8.2, stand A-06.
For more information:
Nick Nafpliotis
Greek and Fresh
Tel.: +30 215 215 8063
Email: [email protected]
www.greekandfresh.com
