This year's delayed start to the Spanish kumquat season is very inconvenient. "Last year, we began in mid-December. That meant there was an equal demand for Christmas. This year, we could only start in January. This late start was due to the weather. This is making things quite a lot more difficult," says Kenneth Meyer.
He is Natural Tropic's Sales Manager. This Spanish cultivation and export company is based in Malaga. They sell their kumquats mainly on the German, Dutch, and English markets. These kumquats are available until min-March.
"We have our own plantation, of which a large part is organic. Kumquats will never reach the mango or avocado's heights of popularity. There is, however, room for growth. You have to like the product. But, there is a group of clients who value these Spanish kumquats highly."
"When the Spanish product is available, many clients stop buying from Israel immediately. We are selling more kumquats to our clients year-on-year. Before, we used to really only sell by the box. This has now evolved into selling full pallets of this product. I see this only increasing in the years to come," says Kenneth.
The Spanish avocado season is difficult at the moment. "There is currently a lot of competition from Colombia, Mexico, Chile, and Israel. A country like Colombia has come from nothing to a major player on the global avocado market. All this in five years. It is difficult for avocados from Spain to compete with this. Spanish avocados are, traditionally, more expensive."
"Over the past few years, there has been money to be made with avocados. The Spanish growers are, therefore, expecting a certain price. And, if the avocados cost EUR0,50 per box more, we can still move them. However, when it becomes EUR2 per box, it is another story," the Sales Manager continues.
"In my opinion, prices in Spain should be more in line with those of overseas products. If not, it becomes very tough, competitively. This is one of the worst Spanish avocado seasons I have experienced. This, while this product's quality is excellent."
"We should still have Spanish avocados available until the end of April. I do expect the prices to improve in the coming weeks. This improvement is much needed as some things still need to be compensated for," Kenneth concludes.
For more information:
Kenneth Meyer
Natural Tropic S.L.
C/Juan Gris 20 P.I. La Pañoleta. Vélez-Málaga, Spain
Tel: +34 (0) 952 507 709
Mob: +34 (0) 647 166 401
[email protected]
www.naturaltropic.es
