The top fruit harvest in South Limburg, The Netherlands is progressing steadily. According to Michel Schrijnemaekers from Fruitveiling Zuid-Limburg, the conditions in place are good for the market, "We are done with the old crop, that is the main thing. We lost the most with Jonagold, and Junami and Elstar have taken its place."
Sissired apples
The hail damage in South Limburg was limited to only three or four companies. The apple season started with the summer apples, as per usual, and Michel says that this year the Sissired apple, a Delcorf mutant, has yielded good money with its great color, "We now have a small 700 tons of them. The average price was around one Euro and that is a really good price for apples. We are practically done with these apples."
Last week the Elstar apples were ready, "The season started with good demand and now it is reasonable. I personally expected more demand for Elstar, but I am not unsatisfied. With prices around 60 cents we are at a very different level than last year," says Michel. "Sales are mainly occurring in the domestic market, but some are going to Germany as well - they have less Elstar - so they buy the Dutch Elstar."
Industry market
"We also have the first Golden- and Boskoop apples in. People pay good money for these apples, but that does not say much about how things will go in the market. Overall, I am optimistic about apple sales. The industry apples will set a good price for the market. There is a healthy demand for industry apples, the price did fall to 12 cents, but it has risen to 14 cents and I expect it to rise further."
"90% of the pears are in storage and we are finishing up with the last of them now. The crops look pretty good. Beforehand I thought we would have some problems with the dimensions, but that has not been bad. The pears are not nearly as large as last year, but they are definitely not small this year either. The pears have a size of 60/70. Unlike with the apples, there is high demand from abroad for the pears."
