One of the UK’s largest top-fruit suppliers, Worldwide Fruit (WFL), has reported a successful early season and is looking to escalate its success as the season progresses.
Technical director Tony Harding, representing the firm at the National Fruit Show, told freshinfo that it had “built a platform” on which to capitalise on good product.
He said: “The quality has been very high this year, with higher than average brix levels, and it is also of good keeping quality.
“The dry weather has kept fruit size down a bit but growers have invested in some top-quality irrigation systems.
“We have received some strong early-season prices on which we can build a platform. The key thing for the rest of the season is to be careful with what value we have left in the crop and that we don’t sell too quickly and too cheaply.”
Harding added that trade relations were key to ensuring the future of the industry: “We are looking for an improvement in prices for growers as we go through to the back end of the season.
“We are optimistic of solid dialogue with customers and hope it can be co-ordinated well. We have a very good crop and we have to look to the future and make sure we capitalise on that crop and get good prices to ensure re-investment.”
Harding declared the Conference pear and Jazz apple seasons “outstanding”, while he was also optimistic for the UK Cox offer.
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