The Polish soft fruit season is nearing its end at Limax. "Last weekend we had night frost, which caused an early end to the strawberry season. Most raspberries survived the frost, while the blueberry season had already ended some time ago," says general manager Leo Klaassen, who has lived and worked in Poland since 1996.
Growing raspberries in tunnels
He looks back on a fairly good strawberry and raspberry season. "For blueberries, the season was significantly worse. A double night frost in spring drastically reduced that crop. Prices for Polish berries are generally low, even when the quality is excellent. Personally, I don't see much of a future for Polish blueberry cultivation, mainly because of poorly organised marketing. There are many small exporters here who, without much understanding of the trade, want to enter the market, often with help from German and Dutch importers. That does nothing to support market prices."
Leo describes the Polish mushroom market as stable. "As has been the case for years in the Netherlands, you can also see things declining gradually here. Many small growers are quitting, and larger ones are expanding, but not always out of prosperity. The market is dominated by long-term contracts, yet prices have not really adjusted properly, while costs continue to rise because it remains a labour-intensive crop. We're also seeing white mushroom growers switching to chestnut mushrooms. The advantage is that you need fewer pickers, but there has to be market demand for it. You can see the price gap between white and chestnut mushrooms narrowing in recent years."
Packaging centre
With the commissioning of its new packing centre in early 2022, Limax's operations in Poland have expanded further. "We have six top-seal packaging lines for both mushrooms and soft fruit. From Poland, we mainly supply customers in Germany, Denmark, the Czech Republic, Sweden, Finland, and the Baltic States, ensuring delivery at 2–4ºC with our own transport. Outside the Polish berry season, we also supply the Polish market to a greater extent with imported soft fruit," says Leo. He notes that the product range at many Polish retailers continues to grow. "And every supermarket still wants to open additional stores here, so something must be going right. In any case, we're ready to keep growing with them!"
For more information:
Leo Klaassen
Limax Sp. z o.o.
Berzyna 90a
64-200 Wolsztyn, Poland
Tel: +48 601 808 985
[email protected]
www.limax.eu
