South Africa's Competition Commission has formally launched the Fresh Produce Market Inquiry (FPMI), which will officially commence on 31 March 2023. This launch follows the publication of the final terms of reference for the FPMI in the Government Gazette on 14 February 2023, in terms of
read more

There are a lot of grapes in the U.S. right now. “The U.S. is currently flooded with grapes. In Chile, we’re around 80 percent done with harvest and most of the fruit for us has been loaded. There’s a lot of fruit on the water and a lot of fruit arriving to the U.S. market mainly,” says
read more

With nearly 25 years of experience in food and agriculture, Chris recently joined Changtoon Trading Co., Ltd. as CEO and export sales director. The company specializes in producing and exporting various exotic fruits, including durian, mangosteen, and longan. Chris's company owns an
read more

The market for tomatoes produced in Spain has been on the decline for the past 5-10 years, while peppers and cucumbers have been growing. Since the recent energy crisis in Northern Europe, however, the downward tomato trend has been reversed. “That’s because in Spain, you don’t need to
read more

The organic carrot campaign is starting in the province of Cadiz, in a season that, according to Jean Claude Mathaly, manager of Cortijo Bio, will be interesting. read more

New Zealand’s 2023 kiwifruit harvest officially kicked off on 16th February which is in line with last year. The first crop was picked in Pukehina, outside of Tauranga and more kiwifruit will be picked around New Zealand over the coming months. The first charter vessel of the season also left
read more

In week 10, Gemüsebau Frey from Karlsruhe began selling the first spring onions from the Palatinate. "Palatinate produce has always been our mainstay," Managing Director Andreas Frey informs us. "We have very good volumes, which coincides with an equally extremely good demand. The price is at a
read more

Copa-Cogeca, Freshfel Europe, the European Fresh Produce Association, and Europatat, the European Potato Trade Association, have taken note of the European Commission’s proposal for a Regulation on Packaging and Packaging Waste that was published on 30 November 2022, and support the ambitions
read more

Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) developed successfully in the 2022 financial year despite challenging conditions. Group revenue rose by 7.7 percent to € 1,578.4 million (previous year: € 1,465.4 million). read more

It’s that time of year again when UK consumers are looking forward to seeing Jersey Royals on the shelves. At the moment there are just small volumes from the glasshouses and polytunnels going into the wholesale markets, the main crop will be on the supermarket shelves in May. read more

This Thursday, 23rd March at 3pm (Paris/Madrid Time) AREFLH organises a hybrid public conference on the new CAP and the EU draft regulation on packaging: what consequences for the fruit and vegetables sector? read more

This was reported in the General Assembly of the National Garlic Board, which met in Las Pedroñeras (Cuenca). The area devoted to this crop will decrease due to the drought affecting Andalusia and the issues to access water in Castilla-La Mancha. The decrease doesn't bode well for the sector,
read more

The avocado market is pretty steady. “Through the 3rd quarter of this year, we are expecting to see continued stability in terms of pricing and volume,” says Brian Gomez with GreenFruit Avocados. That stability is the result of production in different countries of origin coming together.
read more

Top 10 supermarket retail chains in Belgium read more

The Dutch-German border region, with its growing areas of North Limburg and Niederrhein as well as Fresh Park Venlo, has long played a prominent role in bilateral agri-business. But what about retail in the border region? The AGF Trend Café took a look at three retail markets on 21 March: Beej
read more

For the quarter ending January 2023: Export volume to New Zealand down 19% on quarter ending October 2022, which may be an indication exports are slowing. However, still very strong growth annually with quarter up 46% on quarter ending January 2022 to New Zealand Export price to New Zealand
read more

OneThird, an AI-powered food tech company created to address the annual loss of one-third of all food produced due to spoilage, announced the company has raised €2.75M euros ($3M USD) in a late-seed funding round, increasing the total amount of funding raised to date to €5.75M ($6.1M). read more

Fern Ridge Fresh, based in Hawkes Bay, have been in business for over 20 years. The company sources apples from growers all across New Zealand - from Gisborne and Hawkes Bay in the North Island to Nelson, Canterbury and Central Otago in the South Island. read more

"During this part of the season, our organic crops include a wide variety of products such as artichokes, broad beans, peas, kohlrabi, Chinese cabbage, zucchini and celery. There have been no particular problems and products fully express their organoleptic qualities," explains Vito Cascone,
read more

Against expectations, demand for shiitake mushrooms from Ukraine seems to have dropped a bit as February came to an end, says Nature Green’s consultant and advisor Peter Sutherland: “In a surprising manner, the demand for shiitake mushrooms started dropping around the end of February. Before
read more