"Top fruit market stabilizes after record harvest"

The top fruit harvest is now largely behind us. "We look back on a stressful period, and this time not because of the weather conditions. Apart from the fact that there was still some damage at the end of the picking window due to strong winds with Doyenné du Comice, among others, everything went well," says Randy Dijksman of Combilo.

"The amount of fruit caused the stress to finally peak. The harvest forecast was already indicating a significant increase in apple varieties, particularly in some pear varieties. Nevertheless, we can now cautiously conclude that more was picked than initially expected, which caused stress during the picking period in cold stores and the number of available storage bins, among others. To our industry's credit, good cooperation can be achieved during these times, and even older cold stores were brought back into use. All in all, fruit seems to be returning to a chilled destination, and calm will soon return."

Conference price drops to record low
"Before picking, we experienced a dry period. In some places, this ended up causing drought stress in the orchard. These pears did not come to size well, and the storability is also questionable. Many of these and other pears picked at the end of the picking window need to be marketed within a short time. This, combined with the aforementioned situation, has led to an overstressed market situation," Randy said. "To make matters worse, trade to Eastern Europe temporarily suffered a dent due to military threats, among others. As a result, Conference pricing reached an all-time low. We did not expect to trade pears at these prices anymore, but unfortunately, it happened anyway."

"For European retail, this is grist to the mill. We are now paying the bill for our behaviour in recent seasons, where in some cases there was quite a bit of poker from the supply side after all. The price level to retail has steadily dropped along with the 'day market' and has also reached a low point. I do not expect us to turn this around in the short term, partly because long-term agreements have already been made that extend as far as December."

Record harvest of Elstar
"As far as apples are concerned, the situation is even more exciting. We have heard from several growers that Elstar, among others, has produced record yields. But Jonagold-like varieties and club varieties such as Junami are not thin on the ground either. Poland was late this year, but these too are now on the market, and there too we have seen (a lot) more picking than first expected. We do see some smaller falling apples across the spectrum, as the trees were hanging a bit full anyway."

"In summary, we ended last season with optimism, which also had its effect on speculative buying. And we have now come down to earth. We will have to lick our wounds and start the season with fresh eyes ahead. We do have positive expectations for the second half of the season. Consumers are now presented with exceptionally beautiful and tasty fruit at an acceptable price. If we can all keep calm, these are ingredients for a beautiful and healthy season," concludes Randy.

For more information:
Randy Dijksman
Combilo
Transportweg 23
2742 RH Waddinxveen
Tel: +31 (0)180 446 747
[email protected]
www.combilo.nl