Pricing mechanisms have always been something of a mystery to anyone outside the industry, although the ideal of balancing supply and demand with everyone taking a profit is as old as Methuselah.

However, establishing the right criteria to achieve this is fraught with difficulties - even on paper - because there are so many variables. First, there are long and short crops, which in the end may turn out to be outside specification. And seasonal availability can either concertina or telescope due to the perishability of the products concerned.

Second, the crop available must then satisfy the buyers along the distribution chain in terms of internal and external quality, meet the preference for one of many varieties from the same product range, and be suitably packed. And finally, one cannot forget the influence of the weather, affecting consumer choice right up to retail sale.

The first published sentence I ever wrote as a cub reporter for FPJ in 1960 made up a caption heralding the arrival of one of the Union Castle boats that used to cram into Southampton like taxis, bringing top fruit, stonefruit and citrus from the southern hemisphere.

The combination of high quality and spring/summer demand for these products meant that a wholesale appointment to be a panellist for Cape, Outspan and New Zealand - not forgetting Jaffa and Carmel from Israel - based on commission was highly prized. It was a formula that became a yardstick across the whole industry, adopted by marketing boards and UK co-operative groups.

There were alternatives to being a panellist, namely buying firm. One of the first I came across were Australian apples and pears -historically fruit that was bought ahead of the season by importers or linked to a deal that shared the cost with the grower or exporter. Other crops were sold by auctions based at the major ports.

But even then times were changing. Initially, commission wholesalers established sales patterns at prices that could differ widely across the country until, as a method of control for producers, allocations were underpinned by a guide price that theoretically could not be broken without the sender’s permission. Whatever the method, the object was to find the best route to profitability, and commission selling ruled.

Today, I have a feeling that the trade may be moving back to operating on a more rigid structure, involving firm prices. The UK is no longer the market of choice for many overseas producers, as the value of sterling against the euro deteriorates and alternative new markets where the margins are better emerge.

The dominance of the multiple sector, with its long-term programmes and price changes, has meant that supply and demand dynamics have already shifted dramatically. So in future, I predict there will be less room for the speculative shipments that were once part of the trading fabric.

At present the jury may be out, but even those with short memories will still remember the year when imported apples and oranges reached record levels of £20 and £12 per carton respectively - pushing fruit into the luxury bracket.

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