Two weeks ago, sales of Israeli grapefruit in Europe were good and prices were strong. But prices have fallen since then as fruit from competing countries has driven prices down.
“The market totally stopped,” said Oron Ziv of Befresh Europe. “The market is now full of grapefruit from all of the usual places, like Spain, Turkey and Florida. So, as what always happens in November, consumption of grapefruit is going down.” These are the two toughest months to move grapefruit, but Oron is hopeful things will get better after December.
“Everything was running nice,” he said, “but now it's difficult to move grapefruit, especially with the smaller sizes.” Sweeties have fared better, even though prices for those have also come down in the last several weeks. Oron attributes that to the market not being as saturated with Sweeties.
Red pomelo shipments have stopped and shipments of white pomelos are ramping up. Minneola exports will start going out in December, and, given the historical trend of citrus sales picking up around January, Oron is optimistic.
“The grapefruit situation will improve with the new year,” said Oron. “These are just two tough months."
