Prunes: France cannot surpass last year's result
May 4, 2022 3:30 PM,
Der AUDITOR
Chile and Argentina
Market players fear that the supply of prunes on the international market could remain tight. Although Chile achieved an average result of around 87,000 mt, the experts at Chelmer Foods report that low carry-over stocks, a shortage of large fruit and increasing exports to the Asian region are only providing limited relief in the market. In other South American growing countries, such as Argentina, the crop is said to have reached a disappointing result.
USA and France
US production, however, should be able to achieve an average result in 2022/2023. Urgently needed rainfall in the winter months was able to supply the soils with moisture and replenish resources after the drought of previous years had left its mark. Nevertheless, the development of the coming months remains to be seen.
France's crop already experienced a setback last year, with a production of only 16,000 mt instead of the usual 35,000-45,000 mt of prunes. Now the frost period at the beginning of April is said to have caused considerable damage to the flowering trees and thus to the crop again. According to Chelmer Foods, it is not currently expected that prune production will exceed last year's result.
|
Prunes |
|
|
Type |
EUR/kg |
|
Unpitted, 30/40 |
4.55 |
|
Unpitted, 50/60 |
5.60 |
|
Pitted, 40/50 |
5.50 |
|
FCA Spain |
|
Imports shrunk by 16%
In the current season, prune shipments have declined significantly due to high prices and lower availability. For example, Germany imported 5,368 mt of prunes between September 2021 and February 2022, almost 16% less than this time last year. Although shipments from countries such as Serbia (+183% to 246 mt), Uzbekistan (+83% to 119 mt) and Turkey (+160% to 203 mt) increased noticeably in percentage terms, in total this additional import was hardly noticeable. The gap left by the lower availability in the main growing countries such as Chile (-10% to 2,245 mt), France (-19% to 319 mt) and the USA (-33% to 1,378 mt) was too large.
|
German prune* imports, in mt |
|||
|
Supplier |
2020/21 |
2021/22 |
Diff. |
|
Chile |
2,499 |
2,245 |
-10.2% |
|
USA |
2,055 |
1,378 |
-32.9% |
|
Netherlands |
669 |
369 |
-44.8% |
|
France |
392 |
319 |
-18.6% |
|
Serbia |
87 |
246 |
182.8% |
|
Turkey |
78 |
203 |
160.3% |
|
Uzbekistan |
65 |
119 |
83.1% |
|
Argentina |
98 |
86 |
-12.2% |
|
Others |
424 |
403 |
-5.0% |
|
Total |
6,367 |
5,368 |
-15.7% |
|
Federal Statistical Office of Germany / Sep-Feb *08132000 Dried prunes |
|||
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