The Polish apple season is wrapping up, with the last apples being packed over the next two months. It’s too late in the season for export to far destinations, but the demand from European countries is still quite stable. One apple exporter states they’ll be busy right up until the summer varieties arrives.
Although the transit of Polish apples to far destinations has mostly come to a halt, the season is still going forward in a stable manner, says Emilia Lewandowska, office manager for Polish apple exporter Fruit-Group. “The apple season in Poland has been quite stable. Week 13 was very intensive, as most of our clients did promotions before Easter. This has also led to very strong demand on the local market lately. Export to far distances has been stopped to a halt, as it’s too late in the season to guarantee solid quality on delivery. Apples that are packed in May should arrive at our clients in June. We’re not afraid of just the quality decreasing by then, but also available volumes. The stocks of Gala Royal are rapidly falling and large quantities of Gala were sold in early Autumn. We do still export to European countries though, with stable demand from markets like Spain, Germany and the Czech Republic.”
According to Lewandowska, the lower availability is only for a select few varieties, with other varieties still being available for export: “The availability differs greatly between varieties, there are some that are widely available while others have problems. Some of the problematic varieties are Gala Royal, Champion and Golden. The reason we have lower volumes of Champion is due to the frost damages they have sustained. As I said earlier, stocks of Gala Royal are also low as they were sold in large quantities in Autumn. However, the varieties Jonagold, Joangored, Jonaprince and Idared are widely available.”
Looking forward, Lewandowska states it’s hard to know what to expect: “It’s hard to predict anything in the time of the pandemic. We’re still aiming to get higher sales when compared to last season, so this is what we work hard towards. We work with apples all year, meaning we will not finish until the summer varieties start to appear. The export to Europe is expected to continue until June, after which we’ll have to wait for the blueberry and other soft fruit seasons. We’re already in the midst of preparations for the soft fruit season!” she concludes.
For more information:
Emilia Lewandowska
Fruit-Group SP.z.o.o.
Tel: +48 603 303 488
Email: biuro@fruitgroup.pl
www.fruitgroup.pl