According to “APK-Inform: vegetables and fruits”, representatives of Polish wholesale companies declare that this week there have been some problems with the purchase of required volume of apples as local farms are short of product.
Because of this shortage, exporters had to increase prices for apples. Depending on the variety, purchasing price asked by export companies was 0,24 – 0,46 euro per kilo.
Just to compare, one week ago it was 40% less.
Source: www.freshmarket.ru
Russian Fruit Market
Russia to develop organic sertification standards
In the past few years, city-dwelling Russians have developed a strong interest in healthier and organic food, according to Emily Balsamo from the Moscow Office of Bord Bia – Irish Food Board. However, presently there is no certification for organic products in Russia. Many products carry the labels “organic” or “bio” without certification.
In 2012, several producers of such products wrote an open letter to the Russian Ministry of Agriculture demanding a certification process.
The Ministry of Agriculture responded with a draft law, “On the production of organic agricultural products and amendments to legislative acts of the Russian Federation,” dated 26 November 2012.
The draft law designates that Russian organic standards will be consistent with EU Organic regulations and the National Organic Program in the United States. However, there is no regulatory body in Russia which is prepared to certify organic products at this time.
Analysts believe that the responsibility of certification will be delegated to the Russian Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance, or that a new non-governmental regulatory authority will be founded. The draft law designates that in order for a product to be labeled “organic” or “bio,” the certification process will need to be passed. Russian Government Agricultural experts are currently studying American, European and Japanese certification techniques.
Harmonisation with international and national standards is one of the main goals in producing organic and bio food legislation. The impetus for this move is widely considered to be Russia’s recent accession to the WTO.
Russia producers are interested in taking advantage of the facilitated trade environment and have plans to export Russian-made organic products to the EU.
However, certification will also allow for facilitated import of organic and bio products to Russia from the EU, as the draft legislation mandates that any product labeled organic under EU certification will maintain certification in Russia.
The law is expected to come into full effect in 2015
Source: www.thefishsite.com
Californian grape industry aims for another record year in 2013
After a production of 101.5 million boxes in 2012, the Californian Table Grape Commission believes the state can beat its record again in the coming season. The commission’s president Kathleen Nave attributes the rise to the shift in late season varieties, while promotion efforts continue at home and around the world.
Nave says the trend of fall varieties coming into full production is the fruition of a decade-long shift towards having multiple seedless varieties that can be harvested late.
“We expect that we’re going to set another record next year – the initital estimate will take place at the end of April but I would not at all be surprised to see an estimate for anywhere between 102 and 104 million (boxes),” she tells.
“As we have gone through this decade long rotation in varieties, we’ve also changed planting densities and trellising systems and there’s been a lot of investment made in vineyards in California, particularly in varieties that can harvest later in the season – 60% of volumes are now harvested after Sep. 1.”
Export outlook
Nave says 41% of the crop was exported in 2012 and that percentage should stay stable for this coming campaign.
“We would expect to be around the 40 million box mark; maybe just inching slightly higher as the crop grows,” she says.
“We have a large team of people who represent us in markets around the world with 13 different representatives in various parts of the world.
“Our top market is Canada, followed by China, then Mexico and in 2012 Indonesia was number four.”
Nave says exports to Indonesia could have been stronger if it weren’t for the “on again, off again” approach of Indonesia authorities to import regulations at the Tanjung Priok port in Jakarta.
“With Indonesia, the food safety equivalency was granted and certainly that’s important, but there are other outstanding issues with Indonesia which we are afraid are going to impact this year’s crop,” she says.
“The U.S. government is weighing in on some of those issues through the WTO (World Trade Organization).”
She says there is still room to grow in all of California’s grape export markets, which also include Hong Kong Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and Japan.
“We will be marketing in 25 countries around the world next year.
“If we look ahead five years, certainly 10 years, we see countries around the world where there are growing populations of people with middle class income, people who can afford imported product.
“We’re going to expand into more cities in China in 2013 – Hong Kong of course remains an important market, South Korea is an important market, we had a good year in Japan last year and we hope to expand there again, while in Mexico we hope to expand into more cities.”
She says shipments to Australia stood at 1.6 million boxes last season, which the industry hopes to grow to 2 million boxes this year.
“We don’t have access to Western Australia yet so we’re working on that. It would give us a little bit more marketing room. I’d say that getting access there and eliminating outstanding issues in Indonesia would be the two big things on our radar.”
She notes the industry also aims to grow in the U.K., Russia and India.
Boosting higher consumption in the U.S.
International markets aside, California still shipped around 59% of its crop within the U.S. last year and will need to find a place at home for the increased volume.
“Americans love grapes. The thing we have to do with Americans is simply remind them of the many ways in which grapes can be consumed, and we need to make sure retailers have multiple varieties out on the shelves and that they’re selling them at a price that’s going to be attractive to consumers,” she says.
“We do a lot of work with the retailers to give them a lot of reasons build big California grape displays, and obviously we want them to not just put a lot of grapes out, but a lot of grapes from California.
“We’ve had a history of long incremental growth and that’s what we see continuing into the future. We’re not expecting any big jumps in production, just a steady increase, which is a terrific opportunity and position to be in.”
Source: www.freshfruitportal.com
Experts predict the growth of the Russian market of organics
Experts of Foreign Agricultural Service at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (FAS USDA) released a review of the “organic” market in Russia. In the future the market may begin to grow very rapidly although it is at an early stage.
In 2012 the market for organic food reached 147.7 million U.S. dollars, which is 7.8% more than in 2011. According to the forecast of overseas experts, by 2015, the market for organics may increase to a value of 225 million dollars. For market development is necessary improvements distribution system, access to the sale of new products and increasing consumer demand..
At the moment most of the “organic” market in Russia is imported products, mainly from European countries – Germany, France and Italy. A major player in it with a share of 33.5% is the company Hipp GmbH & Co Vertrieb KG.
Source: www.fruitnews.info
Lithuania supplies fewer pears to the Russian Federation
The exports of Lithuanian pears to Russia continues to decline for the past three seasons. So for the period from July to December last year, Lithuanian suppliers shipped only 18,500 tons of fruit to the Russian market, which is 12% less than last season – 21,000 tons.
However, despite the decline in export performance, Lithuania manages to remain in the second place over two periods in the ranking of countries, supplying pears to Russia.
The top three includes the Netherlands in the first place, followed by Belgium and Poland in the second place.
Source: www.fruitnews.info
Fewer pears supplied to the Russian market from the Netherlands
Over the past six months of the current season, Dutch suppliers exported about 27 tons of pears to Russia, which is 1.6 times less than in the same period last year. Let us recall that from July to December of 2011, about 43 thousand tons of fruit of this species were receives by our country from the Netherlands.
However, despite the decline in imports, the Netherlands were able to keep their leading position among suppliers of pears in Russia.
The reason for decline in exports was the low yield of the fruit this season. According to industry analysts estimate of this European country, farmers managed to collect on average 25% -35% fewer pears, than in the earlier period.
Source: www.fruitnews.info
Bulgaria has reduced the supply of pears to Russia in 2.5 times
Bulgaria continues to lose its position in the Russian market of pears. In the first six months of 2012/13 season, this country exported to the Russian market only 10.8 tons of pears, which is 2.5 times less than in the same period of the previous season.
Besides, this volume was the smallest in the last five seasons. At the moment Bulgaria is only in seventh place in the ranking of pear suppliers at the market of the Russian Federation, while from July to December 2011, it was confidently present in the top three. It is also worth noting that Bulgaria has retained the third largest index of pears import to Russia during the last three seasons. Let us recall that for the July-December 2011 Russia imported 26.9 tons of pears from Bulgaria.
It’s becoming harder for Russian producers to compete with Poland
During the recent week the sales of domestic apples of green varieties has substantially declined. In winter the demand for them is much smaller than for red varieties of fruit. The reason for this was the influx of Polish imports, which come to the Russian market in large quantities, and they are mainly red varieties.
To date, the maximum cost of a kilogram of green apples grown in Russia is about 22 rubles. However, a significant portion of transactions are performed at 15-20 rubles per kilogram. The value of Polish fruit at this time is fixed at 24-25 rubles for the same weight.
The situation is more favorable with the sales of domestic apple of red varieties in the range of 22-27 rubles per kilogram. However, Russian manufacturers believe that if in the near future the pressure from Poland will not decrease, Russian suppliers will be forced to significantly reduce the prices.
Source: www.fruitnews.info
Apple export from Belgium to Russia decreases frightfully
According to statistical data of the Russian federation, Belgium exported 2,800 tons of apples to Russia during the period July to November 2012. That was 37% less than the previous season in this period. The share of the Belgian apple export decreases steadily. This is the result of Russia importing more from other countries. In season 2005/06 Belgium was the fourth biggest apple exporter to Russia with a share of 7%. In the season 2011/12 the country was only number fourteen and the share in the total apple import in Russia was only 1.3%. At the same time it must be mentioned, that the Belgian apple export may still get a place this winter and that volumes will still increase during the remainder of the season.
Source: www.freshplaza.com
Poland has become the largest exporter of apples this season
According to the report of experts of the USDA and the U.S. Foreign Agricultural Service, by the results of this year, Poland has become a major supplier of apples in Western and Eastern Europe.
Industry experts believe that the Polish growers will produce about 2.9 million tons of fruit this season, which is 14% more than in the previous period. And the deliveries from Poland to the members of EU make 26% of all apple import of these countries.
The main “oriental” consumers of Polish fruit remain Russia (imports about 55% of total production), Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan. And in the EU the import leaders are the Czech Republic and Germany.
Source: www.fruitnews.ru