Southern hemisphere plums remain in oversupply, but there are signs that the glut is clearing as the season nears its end.
"The situation is still very oversupplied, although things are not as bad as they have been," said Bill Todd of specialist importer Redbridge AFI. "There has been an improvement in demand for yellow plums, but this is really just reflective of the season coming to the end. The position is still one of overstocking and on the wholesale markets, there is just too much fruit."
According to Todd, there will be no more supplies of yellow fruit after Easter and that could mark a change in fortunes. "Other stone fruit is quite expensive at the moment, and once yellow plums are out of the way that could bring about an improvement in the overall situation for other plum varieties," said Todd. "We’re hopeful that demand will pick up in the next couple of weeks."
The oversupplied market has two main causes, according to Redbridge AFI. First, speculative sendings from Chile have caused a collapse in prices as exporters hoped to take advantage of the strength of the euro and sterling compared to the US dollar. And second, although there was a reduction in volumes of early and mid-season varieties from South Africa, later varieties have experienced a big crop and have been available in abundance, notably Sungold and Laetitia. The situation is expected to improve as April wears on, but not enough to rescue the season.
Meanwhile, after a brief gap in supplies as southern and northern hemisphere seasons change over, production from Spain is expected to come on stream in mid-May, but a late cold snap in March has affected crops.
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