The European grape season is almost over, and overseas grapes are slowly tricking into that market. Supplies are much lower, thus pushing up grape market prices. "There's too little available volume to meet demand. Prices began shooting up in early November. Most of the current supply consists of white seedless grapes, but we expect the same trend with red grapes and mixed packaging," says Corné van de Klundert of the Dutch Origin Fruit Direct.
"We're selling mainly Brazilian grapes, and Peru is about to get started. The overseas season is off to an exciting start. Costs have increased significantly, and the exchange rate is quite problematic for, particularly, South American growers. Fortunately, the extremely high prices make them somewhat more confident about shipping their fruit to Europe. But, we'll have to see what those prices do when the larger volumes begin arriving."
"Growers in several countries, like South Africa, India, and Chile, lost plenty of money last year and don't what that to happen again. That makes suppliers reluctant. They'd rather export less produce and stay out of trouble than take risks and get sidelined," explains Corné. "The transportation situation has improved since last year, though. There are more containers available, and their fees have dropped slightly. We'd, however, hoped that would be faster."
"Brazil predicted a crop reduction, which the recent rains decreased even more. South Africa is also expecting five to seven percent fewer grapes. Peru's harvest should be a bit higher, and, for now, India's harvest expectations look good too. We'll have to wait and see how inflation affects people's buying behavior. That didn't change during the European season. The question is whether shelf prices will reflect the higher import prices. I expect consumption to remain fairly stable," Corné concludes.
For more information:
Origin Fruit Direct
Corné van de Klundert
Tel: +31 (0) 643 241 489
Email: corne@originfruitdirect.nl
Website: www.originfruitdirect.nl