The main raspberry imports to the UK at the moment are coming from Portugal, Spain and Morocco. "The volume imports have been difficult since Christmas due to various factors when propagating, growing and harvesting, mainly around the weather," explains Ben Goodchild from Nationwide Produce.
"Things have picked up in the last 3–4 days though, and we are now seeing very good volumes arriving, but quality is also very mixed. There are two if not three price tiers, and we are seeing a lot of class II fruit which was brought on by the heat, the berries are too soft, dark or other defects to be listed as class I. There is a lot of good fruit coming from Portugal which suffered less from high temperatures due its location closer to the coast.
"Morocco had a good season on raspberries, but now there is a lot coming in from there; normally their season would be coming to end shortly, but the season will run for a couple more weeks. There is a bit of an oversupply just now. The UK glasshouse season has now started with the expected high prices, but again people will pay for quality and UK provenance at the beginning of the season."
Ben said that demand has been very good this year so far and will hopefully continue as volumes increase during the short peak window.
For more information:
Ben Goodchild
Nationwide Produce
Tel: +44 (0)1386 424800
Email: ben@nationwideproduce.com
www.nationwideproduce.com