The extreme weather conditions are causing the fruit import to be more risky, whimsical and unpredictable. This was said by Jan van den Adel of Direct Source International. "In South America, especially Argentina, they have had heavy rainfall, there is unprecedented heat in Europe and we are also dealing with the results of heat in South Africa. There have always been swings, with an outlier here or there, but not as destructive as in recent years. Seasons are (almost) unpredictable, which makes it very risky to work based on set prices and/or contracts."
South African heat
"In parts of South Africa, especially the north, temperatures up to 50 degrees were measured last week. This could have disastrous consequences for the start of the citrus season. This heat in the rest of the country will be of influence to the grapes volumes over the next few weeks. At first there was talk of a 'bumper crop', but these estimates are being constantly reduced. The heat is causing problems in the field and large volumes of grapes are dropping out for export, as they are only suitable for other applications," says the importer.
"So far we have had a good quality grape season from Namibia and the Orange River. These grapes are almost all loaded up. After the early varieties such as Prime and Early Sweet, we are now receiving the Thompson Seedless. We will now see what volumes are available for export from the later areas. Compared to the previous weeks the volumes will reduce anyway."
Market in balance
"We have been working very broadly with grapes since the start of the season. Last year we were coming from the situation that the prices of the Brazilian grapes were very high. Retail prices were around 2.99 Euro then, which was disastrous for the consumer. Luckily, we haven't seen that this year. The season started well with quality, the numbers were in balance for reasonable prices, which lead to the consumer making repeat purchases," continues Jan.
"Continual offers are planned in December and there are also a lot of supermarket offers this and next week, including in Germany. There hasn't been an accumulation of stores, so we haven't seen rock bottom prices this year. Looking at the reducing volumes I expect a friendly market over the next few weeks."
India grapes
"The Indian season is also about to start. Some small volumes are already available here and there, but our partner Freshtrop is carefully starting to pack next week, so we should get the first arrival around week 6," says Jan. "Last year India had a good and stable season after a few hail storms. So fat the conditions in production have been good, so we are hoping for a good quality season if no other special conditions present themselves."
The importer calls the phenomenon of new grape varieties a great development. "The art is to select the right varieties for the future. A point of attention continues to be that the supply can't become too diverse, causing the consumer to no longer be able to see the trees for the forest. Because of all of the developments mentioned, our specialist function is becoming increasingly important, and we are working on continuity and quality with our partners."
