At the end of the Israeli grape season, Galilee Export has confirmed a stronger campaign compared with previous years with 1,000 metric tons (MT) shipped to Europe.

Speaking with www.freshfruitportal.com, vice president of marketing Eitan Zvi said high quality coupled with increased production led to a robust campaign this year.

"The grape season from Israel is very short. It’s the Early Sweet variety for about four weeks and this week we have the last arrivals and there will be no more departures, so we just need to finish up and the season is done," he said.

"It’s short and sweet. We don’t mess around with longer destinations. It was a good season all round, and the quality was especially good this year.

"The market didn’t deteriorate as can happen sometimes; when there area lot of Indian grapes around the market can totally collapse, but we are at the end of the season now and it’s all still very reasonable."

More than 90% of Galilee’s grapes are Early Sweet, with smaller quantities of Flame Seedless and Dan Ben Hannah.

"When Egypt comes in with the big volumes, we are out, simple as that. Around 15 years ago it was a little bit different because Egypt had less volume, and the domestic market in Israel was weaker, but now this is what happens.

"We are coming into a small window when India are out and Chile are out and it’s us together with Egypt so we expect higher prices.

"The domestic market is also very strong."

Zvi adds how Galilee has a 60-70% market share of Israel grape exports as approximately 1,500MT to 1,600MT are shipped from Israel in total.

Generally, the warm weather in April and a mild winter helped push the readiness of Israel’s grapes.

Earlier in the season, another Israeli grape exporter, BeFresh, exported earlier than previous years with airfreight shipments into Europe, followed by export on the water.

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