Apricots at an affordable price, there is a demand for them

(Photo: Pixabay)

The plantations belonging to Boglár Kertész Kft. escaped the difficulties practically without frost, which is not something that everyone on the entire southern shore can say about themselves. Miklós Gara, the kft. The managing director starts the conversation by saying that producers above the level of Lake Balaton are in a good situation, while below it there has been a significant crop loss. They usually process the produce of the 100-200 hectares of apricot trees in their area and sort and sell it partly for fresh consumption and partly for various industrial purposes. -We can also talk about a weak or even average crop per variety, since the yield can vary depending on their biology. For example, early varieties can withstand even minus 4-5 degrees during flowering, while minus half a degree is too much for them at the beginning of the crop. So under such circumstances, the early-ripening varieties harvested so far have yielded rather average yields, while the mid-ripening ones are somewhat better and we are confident that the later-ripening varieties starting in the first days of July will yield a normal crop. Let’s add that this year the average harvest is also considered average, so we are in a better position compared to our other producing partners.

There is always demand for apricots

Similar to the past decades, apricots continue to be among the fruits that can be sold, both abroad and in the domestic markets, and whether it is for industrial or fresh consumption. Apricots have also remained part of folk traditions, because many people like to spend part of their summer making jam, and men see them as a raw material for pálinka. This fruit is also important for those who do not like pálinka, but who make it enthusiastically and call Boglár Kertész Kft every spring saying that they will have apricots… According to Miklós Gara, when it comes to jam making, we should not mean the use in the canning industry, but the public.

This year, everyone is primarily curious about what the prices will be like?

The expert says that there is demand for apricots and based on the feedback, buyers expected much worse in terms of prices. He added: “when there was a major crop failure in Europe in 2023, we luckily escaped that and the current prices are also slightly lower than two years ago. There is a crop failure in Europe this year as well and export prices are higher than usual and demand seems to be more lively. This practically shows that EU apricot prices are the determining factors on the domestic market, which is a natural thing”.

Domestic producers are also made more difficult by the deceptive practice of repackaged products

While we label our domestic apricots and sell them abroad, for example, Spanish apricots are repackaged at home and marketed as Hungarian apricots. As a result, sooner or later buyers will stop buying apricots, because they have neither taste nor smell. However, Hungarian peaches are special because, due to the temperature difference between the cool nights and the warm days, the acids and sugars are in more pleasant harmony with each other and the acids do not burn as much – this makes Hungarian peaches tastier.

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