In the 2001 season, supplies were affected because of hurricanes that damaged crops. Although Hart & Friedmann shipped its supplies before the hurricanes hit, this was not the case for all companies.

However, this year supplies were around 75 per cent of the volume of last year. H&F md Yossi Hecht told freshinfo: 'Honduras is finishing, there are no more arrivals. In Cuba we had a fairly good season but with small volumes.

'The Cuban season finishes in two weeks. It's been very good although volumes were not as big as last year. We had about 75 per cent of the volume. But we stopped picking earlier this year because the fruit was small, and the weather was putting pressure on the trees. We picked only the larger fruit, no one wants small grapefruit.' Hecht added that he felt the Dominican and Honduras grapefruit season came at a good time in the calendar and filled a 'very important gap between the southern and the northern hemisphere crops.'

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