Buyers of Polish apples are proceeding with caution due to the higher prices, says Aniruddh Ramesh, director of Polish apple exporter LVMG Grupa: “Since the start of the season, exports have been going on a very gradual pace. Due to the higher prices in Poland, overall, the export markets have been buying apples slowly and with caution. Customers also have options to buy from various other apple producing countries in Europe, as Poland is not their only option.”

The disruption to shipping from Europe to Asia is a real problem for Polish apple growers. Aniruddh Ramesh, director of Polish apple exporter LVMG Grupa, explains: “There has been a lot of disruption to trade outside the EU, especially to markets in the Middle East, India and the Far East, due to the ongoing attacks on commercial ships in the Suez canal, or the Gulf Aden, to be accurate. Generally, the post-Christmas period is the start of the high demand season, but this issue has created a lot of confusion, panic and lot of stress among us and I presume other exporters as well from EU.”

The Red Sea crisis has made it difficult to find appropriate transport for apples from Poland to Asia and the Middle East, says Aniruddh Ramesh, director of Polish apple exporter LVMG Grupa: “After the new year, the demand from Asia and the Middle East was very good, despite the Red Sea shipping crisis. At that time finding the available transport was the largest challenge, which cost us on a few potential deals. The situation hasn’t improved since then, but has actually worsened, in the sense that there is an even longer sailing time and we’re seeing later departure dates, due to the delay in the incoming vessels.”

Despite a solid Polish apple season in turns of production, the season was full of logistical challenges, says Aniruddh Ramesh, director of Polish apple exporter LVMG Grupa: “Overall, the apple season was volume centric for us. In our opinion, we had a successful export season, shipping around 10,000 metric tons of apples. However, we did face some complaints from our customers that due to the long and delayed transit time, some of the weaker fruits did not reach their destination in good condition.”

Buyers of Polish apples are proceeding with caution due to the higher prices, says Aniruddh Ramesh, director of Polish apple exporter LVMG Grupa: “Since the start of the season, exports have been going on a very gradual pace. Due to the higher prices in Poland, overall, the export markets have been buying apples slowly and with caution. Customers also have options to buy from various other apple producing countries in Europe, as Poland is not their only option.”

The availability of good quality apples is so low, that it’s been impossible to meet the full demand, despite exporting more than the company did last year, says Aniruddh Ramesh, director of Polish apple exporter LVMG Grupa: “Due to the shortage in supply for export quality apples, we couldn’t meet the demand what we received from our regular customers, let alone the new enquires.

Polish apple exports are slowly picking up the pace again after a slow November, says Aniruddh Ramesh, director of Polish apple exporter LVMG Grupa: “The season started on a very high note to all export destinations and slowed down from November. But it has very gradually started picking up pace again, hopefully it’ll continue to go forward this way. The first few shipments of the season have arrived and we have very positive feedback from all around.”

The global logistic situation is leaving its mark on the fresh produce industry. As there is a shortage of containers and prices for shipping have increased significantly, it’s challenging for the Polish apple season. One exporter states they’ve managed to build solid relationships with logistical companies to ensure their shipments get priority.

Although the Polish apple harvest will be lower than the seasons that came before it, Aniruddh Ramesh, director of Polish apple exporter LVMG Grupa, doesn’t feel it’s a worrying drop in volumes: “When you compare the current apple season to the previous two seasons, volumes are indeed slightly lower right now. However, they’re not at a disappointingly low level, as there is a sizeable amount of apples grown in Poland. Some varieties will see lower availability, while others will have even more volumes than last season, thanks to new plantations. We will know the real figures in October and then we can determine to what extent overall production is low or not.”

Polish apple growers were keen to sell their apples as fast as possible, to avoid costs for storing the produce, says Aniruddh Ramesh, director of Polish apple exporter LVMG Grupa: “In general the apple season in Poland has started on a high note. The quality of the fruits look extremely satisfying with good sizes, shapes, full colour and generally nice appearance, also we had few clients from Asia visiting us in our orchards who shared similar thoughts on this year’s harvest.”

Polish apples are flying out the door faster than they did last year, says Aniruddh Ramesh, director of Polish apple exporter LVMG Grupa. That doesn’t mean the trader is going to run out of apples faster this season though. “From the harvest time onwards, we have sent comparatively more fruits than last year due to a bigger crop and as well as good demand for our brands from the global export market. For sure, the situation of containers and global shipping is much better than what it was at this time last year. In beginning of the season we purchased a lot of good fruits straight from the tree and stored them in our CA’s. This means that we have a consistently good supply to provide to our customers’ demand for high quality fruits.”