The Greek weather has been a blessing for the tourism sector, but the same isn't always true when it comes to the cultivation of grapes, says George Saliaris-Fasseas, founder of Greek Grape Company: "I remember a very successful old advertisement for Greek tourism which was saying: 'Greece: Chosen by the Gods!' I think it is time to re-run this campaign, but this time by the Greek Agricultural Ministry. The gods chose very weird weather conditions this year for their beloved country. During the winter there were catastrophic floods in Central Greece, just like in Italy, and in the summer months, the nights were hot, around 28 to 30 degrees Celsius versus the 20 degrees Celsius that we are accustomed to, making it a super early grape season."
The weather conditions have resulted in an earlier start of the grape season, Saliaris-Fasseas explains. "In Agios Pavlos Halkidiki, a famous tourist destination, but also a traditional grape growing area where our grape farms are located, it was the earliest harvesting season ever. For our grapes, all late season IFG/Bloom Fresh varieties, we harvested a month earlier than usual! We could not believe it! Gods may have chosen weather that is great for tourism, but not for our supermarket clients, who want fresh European grapes on the shelves in November."
Thankfully, the impact for Greek Grape Company has been minimal, as they have plenty of grapes available, Saliaris-Fasseas states: "In Agios Pavlos, Halkidiki, we are extremely lucky as in North Greece we don't face heatwaves and have ample water, unlike Murcia and South Greece. As such, we have the privilege of having very healthy plants and a great crunchy crop. Last year, we scored number 1 in quality in a leading UK supermarket. What affected us this year, was the timing of the harvest, which fell at the same time with a flood of Spanish supply. The other thing is that grapes will need to be covered with plastic rain covers. All our farms are covered with hail nets and we need to consider a large investment to cover for rain as well."
"Due to the milder weather, we had no residues this year on two varieties. We are always more than 70 times less than EU allowances when it comes to residues, as we spray with bio-products at the last mile, just before harvest. So the new crazy weather conditions can have a positive effect."
According to Saliaris-Fasseas, both demand and prices are high at the moment, after prices were significantly lower last week: "The demand for grapes is excellent and the prices are high as of this week. Until last week, prices were low, as the market was oversupplied and Spanish fruit with hardly any remaining shelf life needed to be moved. Grapes are always short in October, but this year the shortage started in the first week of September. It will be very interesting to see how October and back to school promotions will work this year."
"Prices were decent, as there is a big demand in Greece from tourists, and the southern areas Corinth and Crete had smaller yields and difficulties because of the weather. As a result, the demand was good for northern Greek fruit. Prices are great now and will increase a lot in October, as I guess a lot of South American fruit, with all the logistical hurdles, will start heating up the European market."
Supermarkets are trying to offer consistency when it comes to the grapes year-round, but Saliaris-Fasseas does see some risks in offering too many varieties: "We only grow late season patented varieties, so our grapes are in high demand. We see a shift towards special packs and brands trying to offer consistency on the shelf for twelve months. I am a big believer in that offering and I feel that the white seedless category can benefit from less varieties. The buyers are pressed for margins, but putting non-crunchy fruit on the shelf kills sales the following weeks, even if it makes the excel spreadsheet better, because the buying price is lower."
This year, Greek Grape Company has a new focus on the German market. "We started partnering with Kavala-region exporters this year, rather than only exporting directly, and our fruit went to both the local market and more German supermarkets. The quality proved to be excellent on arrival and this way of doing business was pretty new to us, as until now we were UK focused and had only one single German supermarket as a client," Saliaris-Fasseas concludes.
For more information:
George Saliaris-Fasseas
Greek Grape Company
Email: [email protected]
www.ggc.gr