The strawberry market is running short in the UK as the changeover in seasons leaves supplies tight.
Nick Marston, md of Berry Gardens, told freshinfo: “The UK glasshouse season is over. Egypt is starting now and we are getting some good volumes coming through and relatively earlier than last season, but supplies have been limited for about the last two weeks. Prices will become high before they start to ease back down.
“We probably have about another week of this relatively short market to run and then the situation will start to ease in the run-up to Christmas.”
Production from Egypt is complemented by supplies from Israel and Morocco before Spain comes fully on stream at the end of January. But this week, late-season glasshouse fruit from the Netherlands was making up to 2400p for 8x500g punnets on provincial markets in the UK.
The Spanish are already warning that they will have a slightly smaller crop than last year. Freshuelva, the association that represents producers and exporters in the main production area of Huelva in south-western Spain, is estimating that some 2.2 per cent less acreage has been planted with soft-fruit plants this year than last.
Specifically, there will be a reduction of some two per cent in strawberry plantings to 6,385 hectares, while raspberry acreage is forecast to decline by 11.5 per cent and blackberries by 17.8 per cent.
Blueberry plantings are on the increase, however, and Freshuelva estimates that area under production will rise by 13.4 per cent on 2008-09.
According to the association, the decline in strawberry and raspberry acreage is a sign of the difficult economic times growers are facing and Freshuelva points out that for the “first time in years”, raspberry acreage is estimated to be less than the significant 7,500ha mark, at 7,295ha.
As far as production conditions are concerned, Freshuelva has indicated that high temperatures in the first fortnight of October and a lack of rainfall have delayed plantings in some areas.
A spokesperson for the association said: “The soft-fruit sector in Huelva really needs this season to be favourable, both commercially and economically.”
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