Production and supplies of strawberries and raspberries have been affected by a drop in temperatures at the end of December and early this month.
Night-time temperatures in both Israel and Egypt dipped causing a hiccup in supply. Seasonably normal levels have now returned, reported specialist soft-fruit importer Redbridge AFI and availability is expected to remain good until the end of January.
Other sources have also been affected. "Morocco was due to start in shortly but the cold has put that back a couple of weeks and we will not see large volume until the end of January, about two weeks later than expected," said Redbridge AFI's Ian Waller.
The Spanish south-west also experienced cold, damp weather before Christmas which has had an impact on raspberry sendings but good volumes are expected again next week, said Waller.
Strawberry quality over the Christmas period was excellent. "We have seen reasonable growth across the board on berries this year and eating quality has been better this year than I can remember," said Waller.
Particularly fine performers were Yael and Tamar from Israel and Susanna, a Redeva-bred variety. But supplies from Egypt also showed good eating quality.
And Waller reported that uptake of strawberries was strong early in December and there appeared to be an encouraging level of repeat purchase among consumers building up towards Christmas.
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