This year, the French plum season started during the last week of June and will run until late October/early November. “The earliest varieties were slightly lacking in sugar because of the regular rains in June,” explains Eric Tastayre, manager of Apifood. “But with the current weather, the quality of the plums will be good in August, with good sugar levels and lots of flavor. If the weather stays like this and we get a bit of rain, the plum season promises to be very good.”
Photo credit: Apifood
Good pace of sales, with tasty varieties
The plum campaign is now in full swing, boosted by the nice weather, which favors consumption and allows the fruit to gorge itself with sugar. “Generally speaking, every year before the 14th of July, the market is a little sluggish. But then, the campaign really gets going. The pace of sales is good and the varieties are tasty, with prices in line with supply and demand. Older varieties are a little harder to market, but the campaign is going well. We have therefore been working hard for a number of years now to introduce more and more flavorful varieties into our orchards.”
Production spared by frost and hail
Finally, the campaign can be described as “normal” this year, after two seasons in which frost had a severe impact on the harvest. “We did have a little hail, but this only had a 10% impact on the Reine-Claude orchards of some of our growers. This part of the harvest will go to the processing sector. We were relatively spared, thanks especially to the protective nets that cover almost all the American-Japanese varieties.”
Photo credit: French Fruit Lovers
Lovita, an additional reference on the shelves
The varieties will now follow one another, with yellow plums such as Reine-Claude and Mirabelle making their debut on the market until mid-November, followed by green plums available until October 15th, and red plums until the end of October, with the famous Lovita, which is present in large quantities this year and will close the French plum season. “We now need to differentiate the Lovita from the classic red plum for distributors, because it is in fact what we call a green-red variety with red flesh. The aim is not to present it as a new red variety, but as an additional reference instead, that complements the current range.”
Yellow plum calendar
Green plum calendar
Blue plum calendar
Red plum calendar
For more information:
Eric Tastayre
Apifood
Bâtiment administratif
Marché Gare
82030 Montauban
Phone: +33 5 63 20 22 50
Mobile: +33 6 07 59 03 75
[email protected]
apifood.com
