Israel’s 2023 pomegranate season started earlier this month (August) with an empty European market paying higher prices for this fruit. Yinon Osem, CEO of Edom Fruits: “We started our season over the last two weeks. There was a big and very good overlap between Peru and Israel. Peru was finished, stock was lean and Israel has a very good position. The European market was empty, because Peru sent about 30% less fruit this season.”
He says the lower volumes from Peru meant the European market could easily clear the available quantities until the first week of August. “We started with a new variety named Neta. It is bred in Israel. Its characteristics include a very dark red skin. It is a very early season variety that allowed us to start the season sooner. We are finished with South Africa too. Their season was nothing special, it was a regular season while they had hard competition with Peru. Most of South Africa’s pomegranates went for processing in the UK.”
Osem says the empty European markets also meant the prices started higher for Israel’s pomegranates. “The prices were about €10-€11 per 3.5 kg carton. We started exports by air and now we are switching to shipping. Spain and Egypt have now joined the market, so prices are starting to decline. We hope they will not decline too much. But, we are not planning on sending big quantities of early varieties. We are careful of the market that collapses at a certain point. We are only working with programs with supermarkets, which seeks to keep the price stable. We are only working with prices which are agreed on programs in advance.”
Edom Fruits exports the pomegranates from Israel to France and the Netherlands who in turn export to mainly Scandinavia and Germany. Osem says they are not sending any fruit to Russia because “it is too challenging.”
“We are planning to start the Wonderful season in mid-October with picking. The marketing usually starts in the first or second week of November. Edom Fruits will work with two sources one from Israel and another from Greece. Greece usually starts one or two weeks after Israel,” sates Osem.
