Crop Report – Snapshot of our Crop Report July 2013 onwards

Apple

Another steady season for the Polish Jonagold Apple Dice & Sliced, which means pricing has stayed the same. Bramley Apple has come down in price this season due to a better crop than last year, we have seen an increase in demand for the Bramley again as the costings are now workable in the manufacturing industry.

Banana

Banana remains a steady product with good crops coming out of South America, meaning little changes in price, the only thing to effect prices this year has been rising sea freight costs and exchange rate movements

Blackcurrants

A very good Polish crop provided good availability meaning lower prices.

Blueberry Wild & Cultivated

Quebec saw its Wild Blueberry crop drop by 50% due to a late frost and snow fall in May 2013 and therefore the demand on production went through the roof. Prices have risen back to the levels that we saw in 2012 and therefore production of Blueberry products hasn’t been restricted because of price.

In comparison we saw a further reduction in the cultivated blueberry coming out of America, Canada and most recently South America. The gap now between the two from a price point of view has seen the demand of the cultivated blueberry rise. This certainly seems to be the case for any new product launches involving blueberry.

Cherry Sour

We saw a bumper harvest of Polish sour cherry and therefore prices are at their lowest level for many years. Last seasons sour cherry prices were at an all time high, due to the huge demand from the Americans who bought early.

Cranberry

Canada had a very good crop of Cranberries during the new season in October 2013 which means prices have dropped dramatically, the lowest we have ever seen.

Gooseberry

Steady harvest but the demand for this product has risen dramatically over the years meaning we sold out of product within the initial processing stages of the new season in June 2013. If you are looking for this product you need to get your volume requirements secured before June 2014.

Plum Diced & Halves

Plum prices have remained steady from both Serbia and Poland for the past few years with no shortages to report on. Due to this being a plentiful product for both countries this tends to keep the price at a competitive level.

Redcurrants

We saw a healthier crop in Poland on the redcurrants meaning a reduction in price compared to last season.

Raspberry

We have seen dramatic rises in the price of Polish raspberries this season, this is due to three factors which are a major reduction in availability from Serbia, a reduced crop from the Polish autumn varieties and a huge demand from the juice industry.

The fruit that was picked for processing was generally of good quality and was produced as IQF Whole Raspberry, of which there are still stocks about, shortages and rising prices are being seen for industrial grade Raspberries, such as Raspberry Crumb and Raspberry Whole & Broken.
Poland now being the largest European source of Raspberries will play a vital role in where prices go in future.

Strawberry

Chinese Strawberry – Due to late snowfall, crops fell to the weather and in particular the smaller berry, 15-25mm, was reduced by 40% over previous years. At the start of the season prices went to levels that meant other countries for the first time in years became competitive on price and this saw a real switch in the market to our favoured European alternative, Senga Strawberry. Another important factor into the source of strawberries from China was the introduction of CIQ testing which meant a long delay in receiving the first new season shipments.

Polish Senga Strawberry – A much better crop than the previous season meaning prices dropped to be in line with the chinese market but again limited small calibrated 15-25mm strawberries were available. Very good stocks available on the larger 25-35mm strawberries which have been our customers strawberry of choice this season triumphing over the chinese uncalibrated. We are praying for a good European crop this year to keep the polish strawberries competitive within the market.

Rhubarb Timperley UK

Due to our ever changing weather it’s far too early to speculate on product yield or quality, however, we haven’t had the snow and frost of the last couple of years. Unfortunately in their place we have had heavy rains, which have seen farmers of Timperley Rhubarb begin to speculate on low yields this upcoming season.
As with all UK fruits, volumes need to be secured early before the process and harvest of the fruits to enable product to be secured as the majority of what little volume is available will go to the fresh market.