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Nigel Clare - Peloton Produce

There was the possibility of shortages, but the cold snap has steadied the crop

Peloton Produce a company based in Lincolnshire grows vegetables in the heart of Lincolnshire on silt lands and Cornwall as well as in Southern Spain. They reported that in the build-up to Christmas, sales were going well and crops generally were ahead of production forecast. During the Christmas campaign a period of circa 6 days sales on broccoli and red and white cabbage were exceptional and as their customer base promoted these products, they achieved some record sales for this period.

"Broccoli went very well, far beyond our expectations, I suppose this was due to promotional activity mixed with good availability and quality that allowed us to promote this Christmas with some confidence that the product would hold up to consumer's required shelf life." said Nigel Clare from Peloton, "but the cauliflower was a different story with sales down by around 15%. This has been the case since November, and it has continued into January period and we really don't know the reason for this."

Last week saw temperatures in the UK plummet and many areas had heavy snowfall and widespread frosts.

"In Lincolnshire, we saw temperatures go as low as -4 and Cornwall had a touch of frost. We lost 3-4 days of cauliflower harvesting in Lincolnshire, which did set up back however, due to poor sales over Christmas our cold stores were full and so we just eradicated our stock position. We are back on track in the Cornwall harvesting crop, however, the soil temperatures are now very low and it will take us two weeks to get stocks back at a reasonable level …this, however, could be slightly earlier if sales remain suppressed compared to other years. This means there will not be an abundance of cauliflower supply for the next two weeks, and I anticipate that by the 30th of January, we will be back on track with promotions starting again in the first week of February. The low temperatures in Lincolnshire mean that the cauliflower in this region took a hit and the late December- early January varieties have seen some losses. However, at this current juncture, it is fair to say that varieties for late January – early February are currently looking ok, however, they do need time to recover."

Back in November production of winter vegetables was two weeks ahead of schedule, giving the possibility of shortages in January, but the cold snap has steadied the forward crops and currently cropping is back on track.

"We were two weeks ahead in production, but we have not been short during the cold weather as we had plenty in stores. These stores have now been depleted, and we are back on schedule. I do have some concerns about the Savoy cabbage this year as they are smaller than normal, we will be struggling to get 500g head weights, and going into February it is looking more like 450g head weights are achievable. This is a concern and we will need a kind February and early March for these crops."

For more information:
Nigel Clare
Peloton Produce
Tel: +44 1945 780222
nigel@pelotonproduce.co.uk
www.pelotonproduce.co.uk