The garlic harvest starts with a 15% drop in production but with good quality Spring garlic

According to forecasts, this season's garlic production will decrease by 15%; however, the quality of the Spring garlic variety is quite good, stated Julio Bacete, sector…

Uneven pricing for field tomatoes

This is the time of year to especially watch the quality on tomatoes says Roger Riehm of Blue Creek Produce LLC. “The concern is always that it’s the tail end of a season and the beginning of a new season and you’re also watching to see how much the rain is affecting local crops in different areas of the…

Flipped pricing on California and Mexican broccoli

More broccoli supplies are coming out of Salinas, California. “They were delayed by the rain but they have now gotten to the point where they can harvest and the quality on…

Labor costs are the big caveat to high asparagus prices

The asparagus season in the northwest usually starts mid-April, but this year the crop was almost a month late due to a really cold spring. “When Mexico stopped shipping the third week of April, we weren’t even packing asparagus in Idaho,” says Shay Myers with Owyhee Produce. The late start created a…

Egyptian garlic is more competitive this season despite higher prices

The Egyptian garlic campaign is ongoing, with demand outstripping supply and prices rising, but it's in a more competitive position than other origins, according to Ralph Nakhal of Egyptian producer Tomna. Ralph said, "We are currently in the midst of the cured fresh garlic export season, fulfilling all orders…

Ecuador sees 4.56% increase in banana exports during April 2023

During April 2023 consumers in world markets enjoyed about 5.81 million, that is an increase of 4,56%, more boxes of bananas from Ecuador compared to April last year (2022.) A total of 90.45 million boxes were shipped to their top three export markets with 31.04% going to the European Union, 24.42% to Russia…

"At the end of the road, yellow onion prices shoot up again after all"

The Dutch onion season is nearing its proper finale. "The last onions are being distributed. Many graders are stopping, and only those with commitments are still at it. But we're really at the end of the road now, and growers have very few free yellow onions," begins Wouter van der Beek of Bruin Export.…

Vietnamese durian gets more farming area codes, enabling increased exports to China

Vietnamese durians will receive 47 additional farming area codes and 18 packaging facility codes from China, enabling more export of the fruit to that country. Farming area…

Panama has sent its first shipment of ginger to Spain

Panama exported its first shipment of ginger to Spain. The Panamanian R & M agro-export company shipped 19,000 kilos of ginger from the production areas of Chepo. According to…

Four Brazilian companies are dedicated to cultivation and export of red guavas

In Brazil, four companies stand out that are dedicated to the cultivation and export of red guavas. They are all participants in the Frutas do Brasil project, an…

EastFruit

First avocado logistics center opened in Gori, Georgia

Eximcrop operates the first Kenyan avocado logistics center in Georgia, which was opened in Gori and based in Tiriphoni Fruits facilities, reports EastFruit. Eximcrop representative Vakhtang Gogaladze told Business Insider Georgia that the first batch of Kenyan avocados has already been shipped to…

Zespri’s 2022/23 financial results reflect challenging season

Zespri’s 2022/23 financial results reflect a challenging period for the kiwifruit industry, with grower returns down on the back of fruit quality issues that have primarily been driven by the industry’s severe labour shortage, along with cost increases and supply chain challenges. The scale of quality costs,…

T&G commissions state-of-the-art automated apple packhouse

T&G Global has commissioned one of the largest apple packhouses in the Southern Hemisphere at its Whakatū site in Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand. The highly automated facility, with 1.7 hectares of roof space, will be able to pack more than 125 million kilograms of apples per season once its two…

'CMA CGM Group first-quarter results are extremely solid'

The Board of Directors of the CMA CGM Group, a global player in sea, land, air and logistics solutions, has reviewed the financial statements for the first quarter of 2023.   Commenting on…

Dole plc set to join Russell 3000 and Russell 2000 indexes

Dole plc is set to join the broad-market Russell 3000® Index and the small-cap Russell 2000® Index at the conclusion of the 2023 Russell indexes annual reconstitution,…

Thousands of tonnes of UK produce being destroyed every day

British cucumber growers have not had it easy in the last few years, and 2023 is not looking any better. “It is the perfect storm,” said Lea Stiles from Lea Valley Growers…

Pacific International Lines decides to only accept prepaid freight in imports to Argentina

Effective 1st June 2023 (ship on board date), Pacific International Lines will only accept new import shipments into Argentina on a freight prepaid basis. Payments must be…

Sea Intelligence

Schedule reliability improvements slowing down

Sea-Intelligence has published issue 141 of the Global Liner Performance (GLP) report, with schedule reliability figures up to and including April 2023. As the report itself is quite comprehensive and covers schedule reliability across 34 different trade lanes and 60+ carriers, this press release will…

Cape Town Air Access happy with Intra-Africa route expansion

Cape Town Air Access is a route development project powered by Wesgro. It is responsible for developing direct links between the Western Cape and the rest of the world. It is…

2M cuts Tokyo from USWC service as Japanese exports fade

In another sign of declining cargo volumes to and from Japan, the 2M Alliance of MSC and Maersk has cut Tokyo from its Far East-US West Coast TP8 service. Maersk Line's…

Qatari SARCO to set up $50 mln logistics center in Oman

Al Seeb Technical (SARCO), a subsidiary of the Qatar-headquartered business conglomerate Al Mana Holding, signed an agreement to establish a $50 million (OMR19 million)…

Online auction on behalf of SolaBonum GmbH

Various vegetable and potato processing machines are offered for sale at the online auction from Industrial Auctions in Suhlendorf (DE). The offer consists of washing machines, slicers, sorting and batching machines, smoking, and cooking chambers, linear weighing machines, metal detectors, and many more.…

Unifrutti partners with Tevel to revolutionize harvesting in Chile thanks to AI

The future of the fruit industry is already happening in Chile, where apples are being picked by flying robots driven by Artificial Intelligence Tevel’s Flying Autonomous Robots harvesting apples in Unifrutti’s orchards in Linares, Chile. In a first-ever collaboration, the face of the fruit industry in Chile is being…

"We have seen an increase in demand for our systems due to a combination between a labour shortage, higher wages"

CPS has been manufacturing case-packing equipment since 1988. The company produces systems for many industries, including the fresh produce industry, for packaging bags and all types of trays, crates, folding cases, shelf-ready display cases up to containers. CPS have been present at Hort Connection for the…

EastFruit

UAE retail is interested in expanding the assortment of Georgian products

The UAE-based company – LuLu Group International – is interested in introducing Georgian products into the retail chain, EastFruit reports with reference to the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia. Minister of Agriculture Otar Shamugia met with representatives of one of the largest trading companies…

Maritime UK appoints new Chief Executive Officer

Maritime UK, the umbrella organisation for the UK’s maritime sector, has appointed Chris Shirling-Rooke MBE as its new Chief Executive Officer. He will move over from Mersey…

The limits of a plastic covering in a weak supply chain

Climate change and the related weather phenomena are increasingly bringing focus on agricultural production systems. In May, Italy was plagued by bad weather, and while Emilia Romagna suffered more than any other region, the weather in Sicily also showed little spring-like conditions. Prolonged rainfall…

Early apricots in Greece suffered from weather conditions

The weather has caused some issues for the early apricot varieties in Greece, says Paris Karastergios, import-export coordinator for Greek produce exporter Kastargiou P. Bros S.A.: “The Greek apricot campaign started only two weeks ago, with some Mogador apricots from southern Greece at the beginning and…

Port Augusta's fruit fly facility to double in size

The $3 million expansion of the National Sterile Insect Technology (SIT) facility at Port Augusta is now underway, helping to drive down fruit fly numbers in South Australia.…

Serra da Mantiqueira produces more than 60% of Brazilian strawberries

In the south of Minas Gerais, 25 municipalities represent more than 60% of the national cultivation of strawberries. An example of this region is Serra da Mantiqueira, known…

South Africa: New Hortgro-funded initiative aid pome and stone fruit growers

South African pome and stone fruit growers have to always chose the best cultivars for their location. This requires an understanding of ecophysiology: the interactions…

"Demand for the Gourmet herb range continues to grow"

Butler Market Gardens have been attending Hort Connections for many years and will be there again this year. The team will not have a stand this year but still intend to attend. "This is the main event for our industry, we enjoy attending the seminars to listen, learn and keep abreast of trends and new…

Lower supply from China brings good prospects for imminent Peruvian ginger campaign

Peru will host the Ginger Week 2023, which will take place online as a free event on May 31, June 1 and 2, 2023. Kristel Camargo, General Manager of Elisur Organic commented: "We are convinced that, to promote agro-exports, the action of the entire living environment of the chain is needed to work for a…

South African fruit exports can’t do without Russia

South Africa has had an unusual amount of rain, overlapping among the summer and winter rainfall areas, and days of harvest have been lost.“Every time you think you can hazard a guess, it rains again,” Francois Hugo of Pomona Fruit says. The company supplies Russian retail with South African fruit.…

Organic grower adds seed production to its portfolio

Wholesum, Fair Trade Certified growers and shippers of organic farm-fresh vegetables, is building in-house capabilities to produce organic seeds. “We envision a future where organic seeds and the resources to produce them are more widely available. We support investments in organic plant breeding and…

Consuming grapes modulates the human microbiome

The gut microbiome consists of more than 3 million genes and billions upon billions of microorganisms. These impact the overall health and well-being of humans. A new study…

Syniti brings focus to data management for Zespri Horizon digital transformation

Kiwifruit cooperative Zespri has partnered with enterprise data management vendor Syniti as part of its Horizon digital transformation programme.  The $160 million Horizon transformation…

Assisted cherry pollination in Chile part of smart solutions now expanding to Europe

Hard times call for smart solutions. This includes assisted pollination of cherries and kiwi fruit as well as portable anti-frost machines. These are just some of the solutions that Chile’s Zimex Smart Agro has turned to as part of their focused smart solutions to solve and meet the needs of growers.…

BBQ purple sweet potato snack awarded among the world's best candy and snack innovations

The BBQ-flavored purple sweet potato chips from the Spanish brand Genuine Coconut have won the third prize for Best Innovation at the international fair ISM 2023, the world's largest trade fair for candy and snacks, held in Cologne, Germany, in recent days. "This award is given by an international jury of…

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Rwanda govt. secures funding to reduce post-harvest losses

The government, through Rwanda Environment Management Authority (REMA), has secured $1.3 million (approximately Rwf1.5 billion) from partners to support the development of a cold chain system. The primary goal of this initiative is to reduce post-harvest losses and improve cold-chain infrastructure,…

Taiwan Food and Drug Administration

Japanese blueberries and grapes rejected by Taiwan for banned pesticides

Shipments of fresh blueberries and grapes from Japan were seized at Taiwan's border after they were found to contain banned pesticides. A total of 9 kilograms of blueberries were confiscated after sample testing on April 28 and detected flubendiamide, a type of synthetic petrochemical pesticide that is…

EastFruit

Dates top the ranking of Moroccan fruit and vegetable imports

African countries, including Morocco, accounted for about 40% of the global production of dates in 2021, according to FAOStat. Nevertheless, as reported by EastFruit, Morocco has never been among the global leaders in exports of dates and even continues to increase its imports! In 2022, Morocco was the…

Pineapple stem starch film developed as biodegradable packaging material

A group of researchers from universities in Thailand and Malaysia have collaborated to develop a unique film that is good for the environment and can decompose naturally. This…

Meteorologists predict soaring risk of flash droughts

Meteorologists from Oklahoma State University published a study which found that the risk of flash droughts, which can develop in the span of a few weeks, is set to rise in…