The warmer autumn and wetter winter have led to lower carrot yields in Israel. "Due to this, the country is generally short on carrots, with relatively small export volumes," notes Amir Porat, CEO of Gezer Shluhot, one of the larger carrot growers and exporters from Israel.
The ongoing war against Hamas and the political situation did not significantly affect Israel's carrot harvest, says Porat. "The main effect on the harvest was the warm autumn and overly wet winter, especially in the northern part of Israel. It led to a decrease in yield. So, in general, Israel is short on carrots. The supply is a bit short, which is why no one is pushing exports, with low volumes coming from us."
The carrot supply in the European market is being watched closely by Israeli growers and exporters. "Europe had a longer storage of carrots than expected. Initially, they were concerned about wet weather conditions during harvest. Most of the European storage has just ended now. It keeps well in storage, which decreases the demand from Israel a bit. Although Spain has issues, they have managed to export quite well to the European market. It did not turn out as expected, or as some said, that Spain would be short in April, eventually in mid-May, they became a bit short but still had enough despite their ups and downs," says Porat.
Large-sized carrot shortage coming
Turning to the rest of Europe and the UK, Porat predicts a large-sized carrot shortage in the coming weeks. "The UK market, as well as Ireland and other markets that use large carrots, could be short in the next three to five weeks. I don't think the fresh crops can provide enough large sizes at the moment. The French have started harvesting, and in the South and Central Germany have started too, where they have stopped importing our carrots and moved to local ones. There will be quite a big demand for Israeli large sizes in the next two to three weeks of departures. That will bring us to the season's end. Israel is still short, and I'm not sure if we will be able to supply the demand for the big sizes, although the program business will be supplied," concludes Porat.
For more information:
Amir Porat
Gezer Shluhot
Tel: +972 52 545 0781
Email: [email protected]
www.gezershluhot.com