According to Adam Malengiewicz, sales manager for Polish apple exporter Ewa-Bis, getting all the harvest of Polish apples done was a challenge this year: “By now, all of our apples have been harvested, which wasn’t as easy as usual. Getting the required labor was a challenge, as the amount of available seasonal workers was simply a lot lower. That said, the level of sales is good and we’re still carrying out all the orders that customers lay at our table. There have been no issues from a logistical standpoint. The little delays that containers and vessels have, are of no consequence to the fruit quality of the produce that is being shipped. That is, if they were selected in accordance with the target market.”
Although costs are increasing, there’s no clear indication that apples are being sold faster than they would be in a normal season, Malengiewicz explains. “It’s hard to say whether apple sales are going faster this season, however we didn’t wait with selling any of them if the opportunity presented itself. Farms that have invested in solar power might have opted to store the apples for a while longer, as the costs are lower in that case. Trade itself has increased over the past few weeks though, it started increasing by around mid-January.”
Although Egypt has proven to be an unreliable market for this season, Malengiewicz has hopes they’ll still be able to transport quite some volumes towards Asian markets: “As we expected, the Egyptian market is almost completely closed in comparison to the previous season. However we still have opportunities in front of us. We expect that the quality of the apples that are still in cold storage will allow us to send apples to remote markets in Asia. We also hope demand will remain on the stable level we’ve seen over the past few weeks. Hopefully our trip to Berlin will contribute to that demand.”
Ewa-Bis will be exhibiting during Fruit Logistica. You can find their stand in Hall 27, Stand E-10.
For more information:
Adam Malengiewicz
Ewa-Bis Sp. z o.o.
Email: adam.malengiewicz@ewabis.com.pl
www.ewabis.com.pl