The Swedish market is busy switching to European supply origins as it readies for winter for a range of fruits and vegetables that include citrus while switching to South America for avocados.
The wholesale importer and distributor in Sweden, Ewerman AB, noted, in an update that while Spanish watermelons are sold out, they have a better supply of sweet melons from Brazil for the coming week with prices going down. "Spanish watermelons from Bollo are now sold out for the season. Spanish Piel De Sapo from Bollo is still available to load but in smaller quantities."
Citrus
As Sweden eased into autumn with a view towards winter, blood oranges from Australia can be ordered with the while they expect to export the first clementines from Spanish Bollo (900g) during week 44. The varieties will be Oronules/ Orogrande before they get started with Clemenules.
The company sees a continued strong market for both large and small sizes of oranges. "We expect to start up with Spanish oranges in week 44. We continue with Nadorcott from South Africa for a few more weeks, and the taste of these is amazing. We'll continue with lemons from South Africa for about two more weeks. We are starting to bring in Spanish this week of the Primofiori variety. During week 42, we expect to be up and running with larger volumes and even more attractive prices. The Spanish satsumas season is in full swing, and there are good volumes at attractive prices."
The Swedish apple varieties of Cox Orange and Ingrid Marie are new to the range for the season. Apple Golden from Daily Greens, Granny, and Gala are also in stock.
Table grapes remain popular in Sweden, while Ewerman sees white grapes supply as limited, with prices going up. "Unfortunately, the quality suffers, and it will continue to be problematic for the next 6-7 weeks. There is a better supply of red grapes. Good quality, but prices will go up in the next few weeks."
On the vegetable side, supply sources come from different countries. Avocado has a limited supply. "In the next three to four weeks, we will also see high prices until Colombia and the Dominican Republic get started. The first loading starts week 41-42 with arrival in week 44-45."
For tomatoes they see declining volumes in northern Europe, which is now putting pressure on imports. Winter production in Morocco and Spain is a bit delayed due to the extreme heat in these countries during this past summer. They see a very good quality of peppers from Spain.
The following pumpkin assortments are available for pre-order: Atlantic (Gigant), Baby Bear, Chameleon, Patisson mix, Spaghetti, Sombra, Hokkaido, and Acorn (Acorn). Eggplant and Zucchini items from the Netherlands will be available for two to three more weeks. In the meantime, they have started to bring in eggplant and zucchini from Spain.
Asparagus is starting to fall in price with a slightly increasing supply from Peru. Swedish potatoes are still in short supply. The first Spanish iceberg lettuce will arrive this weekend. They are now seeing falling prices on the pepper market as the Spanish season slowly gets underway. Now it's Spanish unfilmed cucumber, and the first Spanish-filmed Daily Greens cucumber, in return, will arrive in Sweden this weekend. The Kindagurka is available in good volumes. The first Spanish romaine lettuce arrives on Monday. They will also bring in Swedes next week but in smaller volumes.
Earlier this year, Sweden has seen the highest increase in food prices and inflation in decades. It was very high vegetable prices that was driving the highest level of food price increases in the country in 72 years, as well as it pushing the highest inflation in 30 years to 12% in February. This left many Swedish customers struggling to afford the basics. Statistics Sweden reported the inflation rate, CPI, was 7.5% in August 2023, compared to the same month last year. It is a decrease from July, when the inflation rate was 9.3 percent, mainly caused by lower electricity prices. Overall, prices in Sweden were 36.8 percent lower.
The Swedish Competition authorities are busy with ongoing investigations into retail markets to determine if prices are too high, while retailers are under pressure.
For more information:
EWERMAN AB
Tel.: +46 42 490 11 00
www.ewerman.se