Producers and exporters of organic bell peppers (capsicum) from Israel have learned that the timing of their air-freighted produce to the US market is key during just the right window. Edom Fruits are also exporting Orri Mandarins and finishing off the pomegranate exports. Yinon Osem, CEO of Edom Fruits, "We are sending organic capsicum only to the US by air. If you sell a product that has to travel so far away, you need to have the right market and window. This season, with only organic peppers, we managed to get the right window for it. We are working with some specialized importers in the US who are selling high-quality organic peppers to specific premium chains in that market. They are all doing nice small quantities for good prices."
He says that, although they are not doing big volumes of peppers, it is certainly more than last year. "We are not sending very big volumes, but it is much bigger than last season. The organic pepper exports to the US market are going well, it looks like there's a better demand from the USA than last year. It is good news for us. Especially in these hard days for Israel, this is kind of a light in the tunnel."
He says they also have the Ramiro variety of sweet pepper, known for its dark green to bright red color and high brix. "We have very nice Ramiro, but I can't say too much about it."
Orri mandarin season going well
The ongoing war has led to a labor shortage to harvest the Orri mandarins in Israel. This is causing a slower pace of harvesting. Osem says they also had some political challenges in certain markets, which they are managing. Some heavy rain during the season called for good quality management. "For Orri, we're having a good season despite a very challenging season; on the one hand, we're here in Israel, and we had a major problem this season with labor. But despite these challenges, our company harvested and exported very good quality Orri this season. The arrivals were very good, our customers are very happy. We have more focus on the Dutch market and less on France, but our main markets are Holland, France and Germany. We are facing some political challenges on the market in France where it is a bit more difficult, but we are managing it. The quantities are low, which helps to prevent the market from being oversupplied, with good demand. In addition, we had a huge amount of rain this season. This was challenging from the quality side, but we managed it," explains Osem.
Pomegranate season ending
Israel's pomegranate season is ending now in March. Osem says they had a very good season, with the US turning out to be a good new market for them. "We sent most of our product to the US. It's a new market for us. In the last two years we are learning a lot about this market. This year we have already took all the lessons we learned and applied it. It is encouraging, we see a good future for this product, it is a very highly appreciated and well-priced product. It's very difficult to enter America, the barriers to enter the market are very high. Israel's pomegranate season, which started in November, is now ending in March. We finished a very successful pomegranate season," states Osem.
For more information:
Yinon Osem
Edom Fruits
Tel.: +972 52 5450 783
Email: yinono@edom-fruits.co.il
www.edom.co.il