Los Gallombares has planted green asparagus in Huelva for the first time this season

“We are now starting with Mexican asparagus, leaving behind a challenging Peruvian season, while the Spanish harvest has been delayed by the cold”

Granada’s green asparagus season will start later this year due to the impact of the low temperatures this winter. In the meantime, some operators are already starting to switch from Peru, which has had a very difficult season, to Mexico, whose product is currently fetching very high prices.

“Here in Granada, the first asparagus of the season usually arrives at the end of January, but this month has been colder than usual, with night temperatures falling to between -3 and -4 degrees Celsius. With such temperatures, asparagus growth slows down,” says Francisco Delgado, manager of the cooperative Los Gallombares, Europe’s leading green asparagus producer and operator.

“Another cold front is expected next week, so it is clear that this year, the harvest will start at least 10 days late,” he says.

Meanwhile, the cooperative has already started selling the first green asparagus from Mexico, leaving behind a really challenging Peruvian season due to logistical difficulties.

“In our opinion, the volume and quality of Peruvian asparagus are starting to drop due to the high temperatures at the source. The truth is that, since we started in October, the Peruvian season has been quite disastrous due to logistical problems, with delays of more than three days in shipments and disruptions in the cold chain,” says Francisco Delgado.

“We hope to recover with the Mexican asparagus season, which has just started and whose production won’t be abundant for another ten days, given the cold weather recorded so far in the main producing areas,” says the cooperative’s manager.

At the moment, there is still some supply of Peruvian asparagus in the markets and some chains prefer to continue working with it. According to Francisco Delgado, “Although there is still consumption, demand is lagging due to the high prices of the product, something that will change as soon as the Spanish supply grows ahead of spring, when there also tends to be more demand in Europe.”

Los Gallombares, which has around 2,200 hectares of asparagus crops, is once again expanding its acreage for this season, adding around 180 new hectares, a third of which has been planted for the first time in the province of Huelva. “Although green asparagus from Granada will remain our flagship product because of its quality, we are trying to bring the start of Huelva’s season forward as far as possible because its microclimate, with milder nights, allows this.”

Los Gallombares will be exhibiting again at Fruit Logistica in Berlin from February 5 to 7. They’ll welcome visitors at stand B-23 in Hall 18.

For more information:
Francisco Delgado
Los Gallombares S.C.A.
Ctra. de Priego, s/n
Ventorros de San José Loja. Granada, Spain.
Tel.: +34 958315195
esp@losgallombares.es
www.losgallombares.es

 

Renewed leadership team at berry propagator Genson Group

As of January 1st, Dutch berry propagation company Genson Group has implemented a renewed leadership structure. “To effectively drive our company’s strategy in the coming years, we have expanded our leadership to include two equal CEOs: Frans de Vogel and Li-Ang Yah, who will jointly oversee the daily management of Genson”, the company shares.

Frans and Li-Ang

Complementary expertise
Frans, as CEO I COO, will primarily focus on Operations & Cultivation, while Li, as CEO I CFO, will oversee Finance and other disciplines. “This new structure enables us to leverage our knowledge, experience, and leadership to the fullest. With complementary expertise, the leadership team is well-positioned to make swift and decisive decisions.”

“With this strengthened leadership, we are more prepared than ever to achieve our growth ambitions. This step allows us to further focus on innovation, sustainability, and expanding our position as an international supplier of soft fruit plants, strawberries, raspberries, and leeks. The leadership team has established a clear new strategy, which will be implemented over the coming years”, Frans shares. “We look to the future with confidence and remain committed to delivering the highest quality to our customers and partners worldwide.”

For more information:
Genson Group
info@genson.nl
www.genson.nl

 

“Strawberry prices are lower than expected”

The strawberry harvest in Greece is not going as well as expected. Mr. Nikos Kaplanis, owner of the Greek strawberry grower and packer Kaplanis Fruits, says: “The harvest has been delayed by about one month. This is due to the combination of bad quality seedlings and the cold weather. We were used to experiencing warm winters, but this season the weather is really cold, and this has an impact on our produce.”

Such circumstances generate implications for the sales to international markets. “There is a loss of turnover so far. Fortunately, the loss concerns only sales and not clients,” says Mr. Kaplanis. As he adds: “We hope that what we have lost at the beginning of our season, we will gain it back at the end of the season. This requires the German and Polish crops to reach the market late, in order to have time to extend our sales to the latest point possible, the first ten days of June.”

As for the current market state, Mr. Kaplanis stresses that it is quite demanding: “Egyptian imported strawberries are still creating tough conditions for the European ones. German supermarkets want to source cheap strawberries, maybe in order to boost their own low sales, so they buy them from Egypt. Despite their air delivery, Egyptian strawberries remain price competitive. So currently, we end up with a price level that does not correspond to our volume level.”

Greek strawberries debuted with EXW prices at 10 euros/kg, and expectations for the actual period were at 6-7 euros/kg. However, things are different. “Despite the good start, this was just a good snapshot. The rest of the season has been marked by prices lower than last year’s average and lower than initially expected,” the Greek exporter narrates.

The Greek crop will reach high volumes around February 20. Greek Victory still has a weak presence, but it is gradually increasing. What stands out in the current season so far is the increase in Arwen’s cultivation, at the expense of Fortuna. Kaplanis Fruits is one such case. “We have substituted Arwen for Fortuna. We are finally disappointed with this variety, which suffers from Tetranychus and is more susceptible after harvest. On the contrary, Arwen remains firm in the late part of the season, after March 15.”

Mr. Kaplanis is excited with Arwen: “We have also replaced many of our Victory plantations with Arwen. Currently, 70% of our plantations are planted with Arwen. It is earlier than Victory, it can also be planted in pots, and it is more productive. It can reach 50 tons/hectare.”

For more information:
Nikos Kaplanis
Kaplanis Fruits
Tel: +30 26230 71846
Email: kaplanisfruits1@gmail.com