Marketing desks need to work very closely with growers over the next few weeks to stop oversupply of English plums and fruit going to waste. That was the warning from Adrian Barlow of the English Stonefruit Group.
“We are into the Victoria season in a big way now and there is going to be considerable availability with Victoria then followed by Marjorie Seedling,” he said. “What is important is that marketing desks evaluate what can be sold and give good advice to their growers about what to put into store and what to sell immediately. It is likely that the total British crop is going to exceed demand. There is going to be a lot crop to concertina into a few weeks.”
The industry is keen to avoid the situation of last season when a lot of high quality fruit did not find a market.
But Sarah Calcutt, business development manager at marketer Norman Collett, is confident for the weeks ahead. She explained: “This year is much more normal than last in terms of volumes. Part of the problem last year was that there was a large volume that needed to be sold quickly and it was hard to create demand. This year trees have carried less volume.”
Norman Collett has been enjoying a robust season with a strong start on Opal. The firm does a lot of storage research and works with both Mat Tiempo and SmartFresh. “SmartFresh works very well with Marjorie Seedling and has been very successful in lengthening the season. It means that for us, there is no mad rush to get into Marjorie.” Fruit of this variety can therefore be put in storage once it comes on stream to avoid a clash with Victoria and so even out availability.
