Hard fruit picking is in full swing. In an initial estimate, Marius van Arkel of the packing station of the same name indicates that the Conference pear harvest is 5-10% behind already lower expectations. "And we already didn't have a very high estimate. So we will all have to reckon with a smaller harvest than in recent years. Furthermore, Conference has some hail damage on it. On the tree, the damage often does not seem too bad, but after sorting this damage could be worse than initially thought. We have to learn to live with that this year," Marius continues.
"The Elstar harvest is also a bit lower. I think the quality of Elstar this year is really incredibly good. The taste is good, the firmness is right and the size is also nice. In that, consumer preferences have shifted a bit in recent years, they have gone down about 5 mm anyway. Nobody wants an 80's anymore. The apple remains a snack and big apples aren't as easy to eat. And the price of fruit will also play a role in this. But fortunately, apples are perfectly sized now."
Marius is not dissatisfied with market demand either. "Because we can deliver tasty fruit right away, demand for both Conference and Elstar is good and you can see that consumers are making repeat purchases and that's what we have to rely on. I think the fruit is also well priced in shops. A few years ago, you would sometimes see offers at 70 cents for the new harvest. That is not necessary. You would often see that a supermarket stored the apples in their distribution center far too long and that one week you had to work relentlessly hard to manage to deliver everything and the following week there was hardly any demand. A fair price that keeps sales steady is much better for everyone."
Fruit Station van Arkel sells some 15 million kilos of fruit every year, a third of which is grown in-house. "Quite a lot of fruit has been sold on the wood this year and at good prices. Elstar and Conference were sold on the wood at prices between 65 and 72 cents, the price of Jonagold apples was slightly below that. But I keep stressing that the growers also need these prices to make investments. Picking still remains mostly manual work and that has become a lot more expensive," Marius concludes. "All in all, the outlook for the season is positive. I do hope the temperature drops a bit, though, because with temperatures above 25 degrees, it's going to be sore sweating for the pickers."
For more information:
Marius van Arkel
Fruit station Van Arkel
Tel: +31 (0)6 22 94 04 13
[email protected]
www.fruitstationvanarkel.nl