Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

As Christmas approaches we reflect on a year which has been a story of adverse weather. Europe has been dogged by dull, wet weather which affected yield and made harvesting a challenge. Spain saw serious flooding towards the end of year.

The US also had its fair share of weather, suffering two major hurricanes and frost after a warm early Spring which devastated apple crops in many states. One of the big political issues in the banana trade was the increased controls of Philippine bananas entering China, the country also saw large areas of banana plantations devastated by a typoon.

The year has also been full of new cases of Psa infection, but on a brighter note Zespri released the long awaited G3 kiwi, it remains to be seen how resistant it will be.

Many new fruit and vegetable varieties have been launched this year showing the sector's innovativeness and desire to create something special.

FreshPlaza will be back in 2013 with all the news from the fresh produce industry. Our office will be closed from 24th December until 2nd January.

Our team wish you a very Happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year.