"Easter was later this year, which meant no mid-April demand for Spanish strawberries. The Dutch and Belgian seasons are running around two weeks ahead after a couple of weeks of good weather, giving good volumes last week and this week," according to Ben Goodchild from Nationwide Produce. "This and the fact that there are some UK strawberries on the market means that the soft fruit market feels a bit flat at the moment."
"We are at the tail end of the Spanish season, which all led to lower prices as many people have already moved away from Spanish fruit in favour of the new season fruit."
© Nationwide Produce
The UK crop has also been earlier this year, after a period of good weather. The weather has now changed, which will slow production slightly, but people do get used to having new season fruit and will want to carry on rather than go back to old season crops."
"Easter normally sees good demand for fruit at a time when volumes are still tight, but this year was different. The early volumes from Belgium and Holland also meant that there was a lot of fruit on the market, things seem to have stabilised from the lows, however fruit volume is still good, European retailers will soon start promotions which will help in managing the current volumes, it is just a case of taking it from day to day at the moment."
In general, the fresh produce trade is becoming more and more unpredictable due to extreme weather incidents, but also due to other factors. "We continue to see extensions of seasons from all origins, due to new varieties and continued development in growing practices. These new growing practices mean much better fruit quality and conditions, while all this is good, it is at times blurring the seasons. Sometimes this works extremely well, but sometimes it means that there is too much fruit on the market for a short period, and everyone is fighting for sales space.
For more information:
Ben Goodchild
Nationwide Produce
Tel: +44 (0)1386 424800
Email: ben@nationwideproduce.com
www.nationwideproduce.com