The Israeli cultivation companies are becoming more and more modern and peppers from Israel are definitely part of the season and of better quality than the Spanish. In addition the supply of Israeli peppers this year is more constant than the Spanish, according to Jean-Paul Nuijten, who is amongst those responsible for the buying of Israeli vegetables at Haluco, says. "The running of the companies is more and more done in the Dutch way, also as far as sorting and packing are concerned. Only the vegetables still grow under nets instead of under glass. But they do not miss this with their temperature and water provision."
“When the pepper season started it was a lot colder than last year. After planting it was ten to twelve degrees colder. The first plantings were good and the volume bigger and started earlier than last season. That the temperature after planting was lower than last season caused a more constant production with fewer large peaks than in previous years. The large production at the start of the season caused prices to decrease" the importer reflects.
“Later on the market stabilized and prices have been stable for a longer period, especially yellow and orange, red however, was not always as stable. I expect the supply till the end of the season to remain normal, although up to now the Russian demand for direct imports from Israel was good as well. Very large volumes were shipped there and then automatically less comes to Europe."
"Perhaps it will peak in a few weeks time if the cultivation in the Negev and Dead Sea valley are successively at an end, but quality wise the end of the season remains a big question mark. Because of the change in climate this season the peppers stayed on the plants for longer and did not colour quickly and this is not always conducive to the quality" Jean-Paul continues.
Biggest threat
"The cultivation therefore is no problem, but the biggest threat at the moment is that sales are not well structured and organised. There is a proliferation of ex-Agrexco growers, who started to exporting themselves, whilst they not really have the sales for this," Jean-Paul tells. "Recently I have seen Israeli peppers on just about every price list ."
“The larger export companies buy their transport centrally. The smaller exporters did not do this and that may cause problems in the future. Also I wonder how those new players will solve possible quality problems. Larger packers can handle somewhat smaller trade, but smaller producers do not have the same leeway" Nuyten says. "At the moment there are a number of companies, which perpetrate 'uncontrolled export' and that could mean the downfall of a number of companies in the future."
“There are various options for the transport of Israeli vegetables. One may choose for Greek transport companies via the French port of Sète, the Slovenian port of Koper or via the ports of Rotterdam or Antwerp" Jean-Paul sums up. "But in order to guarantee the availability of the product many players choose just about all options. In this way they also have a better spread of arrivals. But transport is not getting cheaper. Transport from Koper to the Netherlands has already increased by almost 10% this year."
The importer is not afraid that the Israeli growers will serve the European market directly. "Important exporters have their own sales offices in Europe, but most growers just have need of a company like ours to market their product, because they do not have that knowledge and know-how. It is still not easy to flowpack in Israel directly, especially not when one is quality wise in not so good a period. Because what will one do, when the supermarket rejects the product packed in
flowpack? Then expenses will be high to sort this out and repack the peppers and the control of traceability has also disappeared."