In week 16, Jaguar received the first Satsumas from Uruguay from Urud'or. Eddy Jager has been working with this cooperative for about seventeen years now, he visits it roughly twice a year. "But each time they manage to surprise me with their dedication to quality and food safety. If there's one country that meets the strictest MRL standards, it's Uruguay. When it comes to flavour and colour, the country also supplies a product that's in demand. Because of the relatively big differences in day and night temperature, Uruguay delivers a homogeneously coloured and tasty product."
In 2014, a significant part of the total export volume from Urud'or was bought by Jaguar. "In Uruguay, two players have 90% of the citrus export in hand. Urud'or is the second citrus exporter of the country. Because it's a relatively small country with three million inhabitants, export is necessary. They used to focus on Europe exclusively with some sales to the Middle East as well, but since the American market was opened to citrus from Uruguay, good results have been achieved there as well," Eddy says. He doesn't see that as a threat. "Uruguay will always need Europe, contrary to citrus growers in South Africa, for instance, who are a lot less dependent on trade flows to Europe."
"The harvest of oranges and mandarins is comparable to last year, and the lemon harvest is a bit bigger. The weather conditions have been perfect, albeit on the dry side, but that results in flavoursome fruit of somewhat smaller sizes," the importer continues. At the moment the price of Satsumas is around 11/12 Euro, and he expects a rather stable market. "You do see the continuously growing late mandarin production in Spain having an effect on the market for early mandarins from South Africa. In addition, the high import duties for mandarins and the current dollar exchange rate make the import more complicated."
From now until November, Jaguar will get a weekly supply of citrus from Uruguay, both in the Urud'or brand and under the own Jaguar label. "Now we have Satsumas and we're switching to the Clementines in May, after which we'll also get ClemenVillas, Nadorcott and Ellendales during the season. We also supply the entire range of oranges: Navelinas, Navel Late, Lane Late, Salustianas and Valencias. We also get a lot of lemons each year from Urud'or. Annually we sell around 60% of this cooperative's total volume of lemons. We take care of sales across Europe, but because the citrus meets the strictest retail demands, the supermarkets are the biggest buyers," Eddy concludes.
For more information:
Eddy Jager
Jaguar, the Fresh Company B.V.
Tel: +31(0)180 750 566
[email protected]
www.jaguarthefreshcompany.com
