February is normally a quiet month in the wholesale/ food service industry in Ireland, but then it all takes off in the run-up to St Patrick's Day on 17th March.
"Things really took off in March as per normal, orders increased in the run up to St Patrick's Day, we don't really see people ordering anything out of the ordinary for the day though," said Barra Sweetnam at Allfresh Wholesale.
Barra prides himself on supplying Irish produce over imported produce and is very conscious of keeping those airmiles down, but at this time of the year, the availability of Irish produce is limited.
© Allfresh Wholesale
"We have deliveries twice a week from Rungis market in Paris, we have a whole range of baby vegetables, rainbow carrots, shallots, bananas, and round, also lots of salad products. The produce coming from France is very good at the moment, there is a lot of South African baby veg on the market, but we choose not to supply that as we are always looking to reduce our air miles, the French product is also of much better quality."
Barra said that despite the increase in diesel prices and shortages caused by the weather, fruit and veg prices still go with the market.
"The price of tomatoes is very high at the moment; there are problems with the Spanish tomatoes, and supply from Morocco is breaking down fast, making tomatoes very expensive. Irish onions have finished early this year; we only have around 2-3 weeks' supply left. Normally, we would still have them right up to the end of April. We have Spanish onions; these are getting a good price just now. We have heard that they might have some quality issues, but we have not seen this ourselves."
As the gas and oil prices continue to increase due to the Middle East conflict, Barra is already seeing this first-hand; his diesel costs have increased by 1000 euros per month. "We are swallowing the additional costs at the moment; it is just not possible to pass this extra cost onto our customers. I don't know how long we can sustain this; it's something I really don't like to think about."
For more information:
Barra Sweetnam
Allfresh Wholesale
Tel: +353 21 4510526
[email protected]
www.allfresh.ie
