The white grape market is finally showing signs of recovery after an extremely tough summer.

The turn around is expected to take hold as autumn approaches and Greek Thompson seedless gets under way.

“June, July and August have been awful for the grape market in the UK,” said one importer.

“The tail end of the Italian season made a bit better money and the weather in Greece is great and they are hoping for good returns. The crop is down on last year so things should pick up over here now and supply should start getting back in line with demand from next week or so onwards.”

He warned however that the market was still not where it needed to be and with good storage capability in Greece, growers may well just store their fruit until prices rise sufficiently to suit them.

Part of the disruption earlier in the summer was due to increased supply from Egypt and particularly Morocco, which competed heavily with Spain and Israel on the marketplace also affecting the tail end of the Mexican season.

Turkish Thompson Seedless has also made it into the supermarket sector this year and the competition between sources has brought prices down. “Prices have definitely been lower than last year, in some cases up to £1 lower for a 9kg tray,” said another importer.

“July is always going to be a crowded month on the grape market, and this year it was compounded by a number of sources all having good growing conditions,” he added.

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