Dear Readers,
It is obvious, the closer you approach an object, the better you can see it and gives the chance to come to more precise conclusions.
The same applies for raisins.
The closer we are coming to the final crop-situation in Turkey and California the better we get an idea about the final outcome.
Meanwhile we entered now definitely in such situation. That means that both Turkey and California have a big crop and looking at the price-development (specially in Turkey) we are practically sure that the price for Thompsons and Thompson-like raisins will not really make a premium – price, this season. How California will overall cope with prices is still a big question-mark?
If India and Iran, will both have a good to fair crop as well, (not to say a bumper crop) we will , unfortunately, not foresee a brilliant market for the dark type of raisins, the coming season.
The more where it is meanwhile reported that China will roughly have the same sort of crop (minus 3 percent) and coming out at abt 180.000 tons
What will happen with the market for goldens? Will that one go the same way??
This is a totally different story.
In this respect we do not speak about the same sort of quantities and neither about an aggressive competition of a great number of supplying countries.
What is more important than anythting else is the quality!
The market is still prepared to pay a fair premium for golden raisins (not only for jumbo type) but the first and only condition is that top-qualities have to be quaranteed and delivered.
Last season, the weathergods were not in favor of the South African raisins. That is to say everything went well and smoothly through the seaon and logically the prospects of the new crop were great until just before the crop was ready, a few days of bad weather hampered the crop in a crucial bad manner. Instead of a percentage of normally 70 to 85 percent of sound and beautiful “choice-quality” the average did, most of the time, not come over 40/50 percent.
It will be clear that the packers, in general, were sold out quite early.
What can we do today? Nothing. Let us follow the development of the crop closely and hope that we will be more fortunate this seaon. Sofar, so good, but again we must say: you can only be sure when the crop is sound and safe in the barn.
as far as current crop concerns and reported earlier Goldens are sold out however
we do have the following to offer subject unsold
abt 1800 cartons Golden medium Standard at Usd 2750 per mton
and
WP medium choice 735 cartons x 12,5 kilos
Wp smalls choice 738 cartons x 12,5 kilos
at Usd 1700 per mton
Thompsons medium standard
2 x 1600 x 12,5 kilos
at Usd 1800 per mton
basis CFR