As the end of the Polish apple season is getting close, it becomes more difficult to procure the apples of the quality importers are looking for, says Aniruddh Ramesh, director of Polish apple exporter LVMG Grupa: “This season has been great in terms of volume and quality up to this point. However, the most vital part is the season ending. This is when you need to maintain the same quality that was sent earlier in the season. Hence, we are very careful of fruits we procure at the moment and carefully work only with the growers who we know have solid fruits inside the CA-chambers.”
Despite the season coming to an end, there are still many orders coming in from LVMG’s main market, Ramesh explains. “Demand from India is still very strong. We have just started with the export of the Red Jonaprince variety and are still finishing up with our last few Royal gala shipments. However, other destinations like Egypt and the Middle-East have slowed down relatively. The talk of the Belarusian market reopening has sparked a surge in the prices for fruits and many growers want to speculate on this. This is not our market though, but we will face of the competition from it.”
Sales have been quick this year, as proven by the current volumes in the Controlled Atmosphere chambers, says Ramesh: “The stocks of Royal Galas in the CA-chambers are certainly lower compared to this period during the last season. In general, the export varieties stocks of high-quality apples are not very high, due to the unusually big demand earlier in the season. Our Royal galas have been a massive hit. We’ve done a lot of Galas this season and it looks like this trend will continue for future seasons. We’re also looking forward to the success of our Red Jonaprince variety, of which exports have just begun.”
Prices for the apples have been increasing steadily over the course of the season, Ramesh states. “The apple prices post-Christmas and New Year’s shot up, as the demand for apples in Europe, the Middle-East and Asia increased. The rise in energy prices and storage costs were also a key factor in the rise of the prices. As I mentioned earlier, currently the prices have increased once more thanks to the talks of the reopening of the Belarusian market. So basically, this season the prices of apples have been increasing continuously.”
“We will definitely learn from our experiences of this season and pass that on to our growers, who are keen to harvest fruits based on our sales markets. We’re entering new markets slowly and hope to establish stronger ties with these new clients,” Ramesh concludes.
