The continuing heat and drought in large parts of the Mediterranean region is having a noticeable effect on the supply of summer fruit, especially melons and stone fruit, he said. "In Spain, there have already been many problems with the quality of the fruit produced there for weeks," says Enes Cakmak, junior manager of Fresh Maximum GmbH, based at Stuttgart wholesale market.

Nevertheless, watermelons in particular are currently being handled in large quantities every day. Cakmak: "On certain days in week 28 we have already received two full trucks from Turkey alone. The demand for Galia melons, whether from Spain or Turkey, is also high. The demand for Kirkagac melons, on the other hand, is rather manageable compared to watermelons."

Turkey: Difficult grape campaign expected
Sultana grapes from Turkey are also an important seasonal mainstay of fruit imports. The first batches are expected to arrive in Stuttgart in mid or late August, Cakmak predicts. "Due to the difficult weather conditions in Turkey, we expect a difficult campaign. According to current information, we already have to expect yield losses." A similar situation is emerging for Turkish sweet cherries, he said. "Unfortunately, we have been able to move quite few quantities from Turkey so far. Instead, we have served our customers with goods from Italy or Germany."

Over the years, the Fresh Maximum company has been able to develop into one of the bigger players at the local wholesale market in Stuttgart. "We have modern stand space and storage areas and a total of seven trucks. We are thus in a position to supply not only customers throughout Germany, but also in neighbouring countries such as France, Austria as well as Switzerland," it concludes.

Source - https://www.freshplaza.com