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“This marks the first occasion in forty years that we have had such a small fruit crop of figs”

The harvest of figs in Greece is advancing in a remarkably slow manner in the second week of October. The scorching heat of previous summer has caused a lot of destruction to the orchard’s harvest across the nation. The Mr. Antreas Litras who is the proprietor of the production and packaging firm Litras Fresh from Markopoulo in Attica area, says: “I’ve been growing figs for more than 40 years. I’m the only one in the years that I’ve had an extremely low harvest. Climate change has had catastrophic effects. The production of figs in Markopoulo has dropped by 60-70 percent compared to normal amounts and is no longer able to satisfy the demands made by our customers.”

Litras Fresh offers Black figs as well as Vassilika that are cultivars grown in Markopoulo and also have PGI designation. The Mission variety can also be produced in Markopoulo but on very little acres. Because of this, Litras Fresh has developed partnerships with Mission fruit growers in Northern Greece. With these partnerships the company was able to guarantee a greater amount. “This will be our only method to meet the growing market demands. We’ve put lots of energy to establish alliances with growers from across Greece. If we didn’t, we might not be able to produce the amount we did. We’ll continue to look for and forming new partnerships,” says the CEO. Litras.

The harvest of figs will be completed by October. Litras Fresh will ship one tonne each day. Regarding quality issues the Mr. Litras describes that “during October, figs do not seem so big as they are in September and August. The mature figs of August may weigh up to 60 grams. However, during October, their weight is around 40 grams. Nowadays, we can pack the figs in a range of 45-50 grams. The figs we pack are going to Canada as well as Saudi Arabia. Since they’re being sent via air, war within the Middle East has not affected the flow of commerce and we have seen a steady demand.” Yet the spokesman, Ms. Litras observes more favorable prices as well as a greater need in the market in the country this year as a result of the drastic reduction of crop.

More information is available here.

Antreas Litras

Litras Fresh

Tel: +30 210 94 00 250, +30 229 90 22 322

[email protected]

https://litrasfresh.com/el/home-3/