Zoutewelle made the switch from grape imports from Sicily to Puglia a fortnight ago. "We will be getting good volumes from our regular grower again in the near future under the Lino brand," says Bertus Schipper. "A mild winter has resulted in fine volumes of nice coarse and flavourful grapes."
In the grape market, Italy is at centre stage. "Here and there, there are still some Egyptian grapes, but customers now want to switch fully to Italy," says Bertus. From Puglia, traditionally, Black Magic pitted grapes arrive first and also white seedless grapes, followed later in the season by white pitted grapes and black and red seedless varieties.
"Grapes have seen an upsurge from mass to luxury item over the years, especially in the wholesale markets. Customers prefer to pay a little more for the right varieties, which does assure them of the right quality. The rise of paper bags and carrier bags contribute to grapes being increasingly positioned as a luxury item," says the importer.
Zoutewelle focuses its grape sales mainly on customers in the Dutch and UK markets. Despite the rise of seedless grapes also going on in Italy, the ethnic customers Zoutewelle serves a lot in particular continue to prefer the grapes with stone. "And that is a target group that eats more fruit than the average Dutchman. So I expect that the ratio with us between seedless varieties and with pith will remain fifty-fifty."
The current prices for the grapes are at a fine level, with a kilogram price around 2.30 euros for pitted grapes and a kilogram price of 3 euros for the more luxurious seedless grapes. "So far, we have no complaints about sales. The mild weather is rather favourable for grape sales. Incidentally, stone fruit prices are not disappointing at all either. The only negative exception is melons, which really need higher temperatures for smooth sales," Bertus concludes.
For more information:
Bertus Schipper
Zoutewelle
Handelsweg 140
2988 DC Ridderkerk
+31 (0)180 642364
[email protected]
www.zoutewelle.com