Indicators September 2003 : banana, avocado, orange, grapefruit, mango, litchi

Banana: The market emerged from the serious difficulties experienced in August. Performance was nonetheless distinctly worse than average. On the one hand, cumulated shipments from the main origins supplying the French market were substantial and the quality of fruits from Martinique was very uneven. On the other, demand was slack on both the domestic and export markets. Avocado: Performance was satisfactory. The average price did not reach last year's excellent level but was distinctly above average even though the volumes sold were larger than in 2002 and higher than the average for the last few years. Orange: Performance was satisfactory in September. Although supplies were plentiful at the beginning of the month, they decreased considerably in the second half of the month in particular as a result of the early end to South African shipments. In parallel, demand was lively throughout the month thanks to numerous store promotion operations and partly because Spanish clementines were slightly late. Grapefruit: Market performance was excellent in September once again. The small volumes available and the good promotion visibility enabled Honduras to sell markedly larger quantities than last year at very satisfactory prices. Mango West African season: September was another transition period in mango supply, with a gradual decrease in arrivals from Senegal and the restarting of shipments from Brazil. Israel supplied the major part of the tonnage during the period, complemented by exports from Spain. The traditional September gap in European market supply did not really affect prices as demand was comparatively sluggish. Litchi: September was a period of recovery after the summer holidays. Demand was not very lively overall. Supplies of fruit and vegetables were fairly reduced, explaining the high selling prices. Tropical fruits did not really profit from these sales conditions as demand for this type of produce is limited.