"Plenty of Brazilian apples in the coming months"

For more than a month now Brazilian apples have been imported by VerDi Import. "During the coming weeks the variety Royal Gala will arrive. After that the Fuji, Cripps Pink and in smaller volumes the Braeburn" say commercial director Kees Kooijman and Gert-Jan van den Heuvel, who is responsible for the import from South America. "In the coming months only Brazil will be important!"

Traditionally Brazil only produce smaller size apples. VerDi Import join this trend. "We have set our limit slightly lower this year and as a result import sizes 90 to 150 inclusive. Incidentally 6 apples of this size fit perfectly on a small dish. We are slowly getting more enquiries from supermarkets" Kees says. The apples from Brazil are available at VerDi Import in parcels of 18 and 2.5 kgs. Of course in addition other consumer packings are also available, such as plastic bags of 1.5 or 2 kgs or foodtainers.

However, the market situation for Brazilian apples has changed
compared to last year. "There is a lively internal market, transport is far more expensive and the rate of exchange of the Brazilian real to the dollar and the Euro is very much to our disadvantage. Also the increase in scale at exporters has increased" Gert van den Heuvel sums up. "All this resulted in higher prices for apples and nevertheless importers show an interest in importing."

The most important outlets for Brazilian apples are Scandinavia, Germany, Eastern Europe and the Netherlands. "Southern Europe and Russia have of traditionally been interested in large sizes" Gert-Jan explains. "The quality of the apples is comparable to last year. Traditionally the Brazilian apples have a nice red colour and have a sweet taste."

After Brazil arrivals are expected from Chile, New Zealand and South Africa. "But Brazil supply relatively the cheapest import apples to Europe" Kees emphasizes. "The first New Zealand consignment is on the way, but high product costs in the present economic circumstances are the reason that the apples are expensive. In addition Chile has the opportunity to export to the United States."

VerDi only import apples from GlobalGap certified suppliers. "We have worked for years already with most of our suppliers and we are in close contact with them. We also have our own technical personnel all over the world controlling the quality and food safety" Gert-Jan says. "The consumer has become more critical and therefore the retail often make stricter demands than the EU-norms in the area of food safety. In this way we can satisfy the special requirements of the supermarkets with regard to the residue analysis.