It’s been a very challenging fruit season for the apples in Poland. This wasn’t just due to selecting all the apples as well when it comes to sales at the beginning part of the season. Dominik Wozniak, VP of sales at Polish exporter of apples Rajpol Says: “The 2022/23 apple season was an extremely difficult one for farmers in Poland. The harvest in the autumn of 2022 had the highest yields of the past five years. The absence of employees meant large quantities of apples remained in the fields. In the beginning, the season was challenging for sales, particularly when the price was disappointing to the time. The good news is that since February, the situation improved, we are nearing the end of the sales and it looks like everything is looking good.”
While the inventory of Rajpol haven’t completely gone now, Wozniak is confident that the company will be able to market everything prior to when the new season starts. “Our inventory of apples is balanced and it is likely like all our products will be available for sale before the start of the new season. According to Rajpol is a major supplier, we provide around 60% of our apple products to Polish retail stores, and 30% make their route to European grocery chains. A further 10 percent of our apples are exported into markets that are not in Europe which is primarily India, Middle East and Asia however, Latin America is present in our customer base.”
The season to come is likely to be quite distinct in terms of availability, based upon the kind of apples, Wozniak explains: “The next Polish apple season is going to be distinct from the last one. The total amount of apples will be less than what it was in 2022. Particularly with regard to varieties like the Jonagold as well as Idared varieties. However, these tend to be more suited for local market. However, the harvests of Gala, Golden and Red Delicious appear to be promising, and we’re expecting large quantities of these apples. It appears that the quality is in good shape, since we are able to get enough water at central Poland. To date, the most significant issues to date were hail storms or other weather related events.”
The 15th of June was the Gala which was the culmination of the tenth edition of the Modern Distribution Congress, the Rajpol Fruit Producers Group was recognized in the top exporter category. The award was presented to the president of Lidl Polska, Mr Wlodzimierz Wlazlak the Rajpol Chief Executive Officer, Hubert Wozniak. The award was presented to Hubert Wozniak. Hubert Wozniak emphasised the uniqueness of the collaboration among the 170 growers of fruit who are part of Rajpol. Rajpol Group.
“In the coming months, we’d like to further develop our new markets which we successfully managed this year, but also keep our options open of possibilities that are new. It is our chance to show the world there’s a reason that we’ve been awarded this award. There is a growing market for top quality fruit that come from Latin America, the Middle East and Asia,” Wozniak concludes.
More information is available here:
Aleksandra Osko-Wozniak
Rajpol Sp. Z o.o.
Tel: +48 48 661 15 83
Email: aleksandra.osko-wozniak@rajpol.com.pl
www.rajpol.com.pl