The UK market has been getting arrivals of the new season New Zealand apples since early April, which is pretty normal timing.
"We had our first arrivals of Cox in early April, with the first Galas arriving in May. The main volumes of Gala and Breaburn will arrive in June, followed by Pink Ladys in July," said Patrick Meikle from Golden Bay Fruit.
Golden Bay Fruit grow apples in New Zealand's South Island, as well the above-mentioned traditional varieties Golden Bay also grow IP varieties such as Cherish, Sassy and Miranda.
Some New Zealand growers are pulling out the varieties grown for the European markets and replacing them with ones more suited for the Asian markets, where they see better returns, but Patrick said they are still seeing good demand from Europe.
"The split between the markets varies year-on-year depending on the market dynamics. This year the UK apple supply ended early with good demand in EU/UK market, while the Asian market is flat with good demand on New Zealand's IP varieties.
From the IP varieties, Golden Bay will have more than 150 containers which include Cherish, Sassy and Miranda this season. The volumes of these varieties will increase substantially as more trees come into production, there are also 100,000 new trees being planted each year.
"These IP varieties, especially the Miranda have seen massive growth in Asia, it's a yellow green apple, surprisingly sweet, making it really stand out among the predominantly red apple category. It is still early days for these apples in UK market, but we will be sending more as the volumes increase.
"In the UK, there is a big focus on British grown produce, but there will always be room for New Zealand apples in the counter season. The recent trade deals between the New Zealand and the UK and Europe have helped us be a bit more competitive.
"One of our major challenges this year has been the shipping, due to the Red Sea situation transit time is around two weeks longer, and it is more expensive. This doesn't affect the quality or shelf life of the apples."
For more information:
Patrick Meikle
Golden Bay Fruit
[email protected]
www.goldenbayfruit.com