European market is quite slow due to the pandemic
The season is expected to become rather slow for the upcoming months when it comes to the Polish App…The season is expected to become rather slow for the upcoming months when it comes to the Polish Apple season. One exporter has sold off most of what he had in stock immediately and directly to the Egyptian market, but is currently still trading in the European market, wherever possible, with the pandemic in mind.
Despite a lot of challenges that the Polish apple producers have had to deal with, it’s been a solid season overall, says Mohamed Marawan, owner of Polish apple exporter Sarafruit. “Polish apples are doing well in general, however things can always be better. The largest problem is still the availability with quality, as the very tough summer with frost had a big impact on the apples. However, overall this has been an acceptable season in my opinion.”
Sarafruit exports a large part of its volumes to the Egyptian market. According to Marawan the market was very strong at the start of the season. “Egypt being our most important market, we were very happy this market started out strong at the beginning of the season. Demand was very high as they were waiting for the Polish apples to start, or to have access to any apple, really. Since we don’t store our apples in any cooling chambers, we were able to sell large volumes directly to Egypt. After we finished our harvest we immediately sold it for a reasonable price.”
Marawan states the European market has been suffering from the pandemic. However, Sarafruit will start supplying a few European supermarkets starting in February: “As far as the European market goes, business is quite slow because of Covid-19. With hotels and restaurant still being closed. There’s no comparison to be made to the previous season here, as the situation is just unique. However, we’ve been working on getting some doors open in the European supermarket network and hope to see the results of this soon, as we’ll start our exports to a few European supermarkets in the beginning of February.”
Prices have not changed since the beginning of the season and are still relatively high, Marawan explains. “There have hardly been any changes in prices since the start of the season. The changes that are there are for the few varieties that are currently in demand. Examples of this are Gala Royal, Red Prince and Golden varieties. The price in the beginning of the season was very good because demand was also very good.
"Right now, the price is maybe 0.02 cents higher, but with very low demand of selling. It’s my expectation that the upcoming months will be slow, quite smooth and easy going in terms of amount of prices. For Sarafruit, we have four months left to finish the season, which again, in my opinion has been an acceptable season overall. Of course, things can improve, but this depends on the Covid situation in Europe and other countries.”