This season, few growers are complaining about top fruit sales. "They've faced significant cost increases, but this year's prices fortunately reflected that," observes Marius van Arkel from Fruitstation van Arkel.
This Dutch company sells about 15 million kilos of fruit annually, a third of which is self-grown. With apples, it is fully committed to the Elstar variety, although, according to Marius, that is becoming increasingly challenging. "Elstars are very expensive to grow, as you must pick them four times. Considering the past five years' average prices, that's only modestly rewarded."
"Add to that the aging issue fruit cultivation faces and the drastically decreased acreage. Plus, many tree growers were left with Elstar trees over the past few years, so they're not planting any new ones. If you want Elstar trees now, you have to wait two years. I'm, thus, worried whether we'll have enough Elstar available in three years. It's concerning. Introduce all the new varieties you want, but Elstar is still the best-selling apple in the Netherlands. Though, I think it's the most undervalued," says Marius.
"Sales are going very well this year. Customers are satisfied with the Elstar's quality. Also, partly because the stores carry few other products, apple sales are brisk, and stocks have shrunk considerably in recent weeks. Prices for good Class I apples are around €0.90, while Jonagold sell for €0.10 less."
"Pear sales are steady, too. Supplies will remain fairly high until February as quite a few pears in the cells must be moved before then. But demand is good and comes from all over Europe, with Italy, Spain, and France leading. Prices are about €0.95. In other years, we sometimes had certain sizes left over; not this year. That makes us optimistic about the sales season's second half," Marius concludes.
For more information:
Marius van Arkel
Fruitstation Van Arkel
Tel.: +31 (0) 622 940 413
[email protected]
www.fruitstationvanarkel.nl