Weeks N°: 47/09 - 48/09- 49/09- 50/09- 51/09- 52/09- 53/09- 01/10- 02/10- 03/10- 04/10- 05/10- 06/10- 08/10

LITCHI LETTER - Week N° 47/09 - 16th to 20th November 2009

French version

ORIGINS	GERMANY		BELGIUM		SPAIN		FRANCE		HOLLAND		UNITED KINGDOM
Weeks	46	47	46	47	46	47	46	47	46	47	46	47
Air	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Mauritius (b)	-	-	-	-	-	-	12	10	-	-	-	-
Mauritius (s)	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	9.00- 10	-	-	-	-
Madagascar (s)	-	-	9.00	6.00	-	6.50	8.00- 9.00	6.00	8.00- 8.25	6.75	-	-
Madagascar (b)	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	10	-	-	-	-
Reunion (b)	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	12-13	-	-	-	-
South Africa (s)	-	-	-	6.00	-	-	-	6.50- 7.00	-	5.00- 6.00	-	-
Sea	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Madagascar	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
South Africa	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Price in Euros per kg - (b) : on stem/fresh ; (s) : +SO2 (Indicative and average price given by operators most representative of the industry for fruits of satisfactory quality)

SUMMARY OF ARRIVALS BY SEA
(In pallets)

INCOMING TONNAGES				FORECASTED TONNAGES
Departure Source	Vessels	Dates - Ports	Tonnage	Departure Source	Vessels	Dates - Ports	Tonnage
				Tamatave	Ipanema	Fos	3 700
				Tamatave	Hansa Bremen	Vlissingen	5 500

 

GENERAL INFORMATION

T he marketing campaign for litchis of the Indian Ocean area this year, has taken some serious delay. The length and the intensity of the Southern winter (low temperatures and weak rainfalls) are the main reasons for this delay. While traditionally, the campaign used to begin with the new season’s fruit from Mauritius during week 44, it was only during week 46 that the first fruits from that origin began to be available. This delay in the beginning of the campaign resulted in the simultaneous arrival of litchis from Mauritius, Madagascar and South Africa on the European markets.

Market conditions for litchis seem rather poor this year. The effects of the international economic crisis have
resulted in a fall back of the demand for imported fruits. In addition, litchis being more and more considered
as festive fruits, their early availability in regard to the end of the year celebrations does not help in developing a general craze for the fruit especially considering the high level of prices done for these first lots.
Most of the fruits received up to now are composed of sulphured strip of the branch fruits. The supplies of fresh on stem fruits are very limited.

The delay in the beginning of the campaign is also impacting on the implementation of the sea freighted campaign of fruits from Madagascar. The official opening date for the Tamatave area (the most important of the country) should be given next week, consequently considering the possible delays in terms of transport, this should mean that the first sea freighted fruit from Madagascar should only reach Europe during week 51.

Estimate of incoming volumes
(in tons) 

EUROPEAN MARKETS

Germany :No information this week.

Belgium : Very weak supplies. High level of prices are slowing down sales which explains the strong drop in terms of prices observed from week 46 to 47.

Spain : Marketing of the first litchis from Madagascar but these lots are too weak in terms of volume to mean something. Sales were based on fruits imported from France.

France :Small volumes, of little significance were received last week, they were sold at rather high prices. The strong increase of supplies during this week led to a “normal” drop in prices considering the weakness of the demand for the fruit. Supplies from Madagascar having arrived at the end of the week, prices are still “floating” a little. They will certainly be more stable next week especially considering that more fruits are expected during the weekend. For the time being, incoming supplies were sold without any problems. We should nevertheless wait to see how wholesalers and retailers react before being really able to draw a trend. Prices at the beginning of a campaign are generally high and then they rapidly decline. The unknown factor of the beginning of this campaign is how people will react downstream (retailers and consumers) considering the
actual economic crisis.

Italy :No information on this market this week.

Netherlands :First marketing of litchis for the 2009/2010 campaign. Prices seem to rapidly be on a down trend.

United Kingdom :No information on this market this week.

Exchange rates (November 2009) :

1 EURO
United Kingdom	0.8975GBP
Madagascar	3 007.45 MGA (Ariary)

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