The first of this season’s Spanish raspberries arrived at UK grower/ importer Rodanto last week and, according to Edward Velasco, they are looking very good.
“We are just at the end of our UK raspberry production which leads in nicely to the Spanish arrivals. The Spanish raspberries have had a good warm growing season with no exceptional rainfall or frost. We are also looking forward to the first arrivals from Morocco where the fruit also looks great and there will be a good supply.”
Demand for soft fruit has fallen off partly due to the change in the weather in last couple of weeks, but also due to inflation and higher food prices across the board.
“In the summer months we had the heat wave which caused an over- supply and fruit was sold at discounted prices. Now people are being very careful how they spend their money, fruit in general, not just soft fruit is suffering. The demand from wholesale as well as retail is down.”
Production costs have increased for all growers whether in the UK or in Europe.
“Our Spanish growers have seen an average increase in costs of around 30%, when you add on the additional the cost incurred through the supply chain, it is not cheaper to import. The logistical costs will only continue to increase in the coming months”
Ed said that normally growers would plant an extra 20% of volume over-programme, but this season they are not taking any risks and only planting what is pre-arranged.
“We are already seeing some growers in the sector going out of business; you can take one two bad years but for some, especially smaller companies there comes a point where they can’t go on.”
For more information:
Edward Velasco
Rodanto Ltd
Tel: +44 (0)208 150 3044
edward@rodanto.co.uk
www.rodanto.co.uk