The pome fruit campaign is facing a difficult situation in a market with prices that were already under pressure on top of the recent veto that Russia has imposed on the import of fresh products.
"The market was already in a difficult situation for both stonefruit and pome fruit, and the Russian veto has been the icing on the cake," says Xavier Juvillà, marketing director of the Catalan company Viyefruit. "Add to that we must add that this year there will be greater volumes of apples and pears in Europe, which should aggravate the situation even further," he adds.
Moreover, unlike last season, this year's apple and pear campaign has started when there was still stocks from the 2013 harvest. "The market still has small volumes of Golden apples from last year, while it appears that the stocks of old Conference pears have already been cleared," he explains.
According to Xavier, the apple season started with the Royal Gala variety in Lleida with lower prices compared to the previous campaign and also with a lower sales volume. "Granny Smith Apples also started being exported last week; a variety that accounts for a very considerable volume of sales in the Russian market," he says. "The inability to export to Russia is making us look to Brazil as an alternative market, as both Granny Smith and Royal Gala have good consumption levels in the Carioca country."
Regarding pears, Spain expects a similar or a little smaller harvest than last year, although there will be more first class volumes, in part because hailstorms have not affected this product. Meanwhile, Belgium and the Netherlands plan to increase their Conference pear harvest volumes, and Portugal will do likewise with Rocha pears.
The Williams, Red Williams and especially the Alexandrian varieties, which are the most commonly shipped to Russia, will be greatly affected by the veto. Therefore, "we will try shipping more Williams pear to Brazil, the most demanded. Earlier, with Russia and Brazil, we had two major markets for this pear, and now we only have one, so it will be more complicated if there are more exporters competing for the same market," points out Xavier.
Moreover, unlike last year, this year Israel seems to have a large enough domestic pear production to supply its own market at the start of the campaign. "Last year Israel imported large volumes of Blanquilla pear, while right now, with the Blanquilla harvest already underway, sales are very slow," he says.
This campaign's quality, however, is unbeatable due to the positive influence of the weather, which has contributed to higher Brix levels and interesting calibres. "Normally we have strong winds at this time of the year which make fruit drop from the trees, but it has not been the case this campaign," he assures.
Viyefruit will be present once again this year at the fair Fruit Attraction in Madrid from 15 to 17 October, where they will exhibit their new harvest of Golden and Fuji apples grown in the Pyrenees. "These apples have a similar quality to those cultivated in the Italian Alps, with a higher degree of hardness, good flavour and little or no problems with discards."
For more information:
Xavier Juvilla
Viyefruit, S.A.
T: +34 616 982672
javier@viyefruit.com
www.viyefruit.com