The campaign got off to a really bad start, with the winter market players carrying on from a disappointing 2017 summer season (equally astonishing). However, the result turned out OK. The average guide price for the campaign calculated by our Market News Service found, just as in 2016-17, a really excellent level of 13.20 euros/box at the import stage. After a gloomy start, rates would only develop one way, from early October following the positive profile of the 2016-17 season practically to the nearest euro, and also finishing on a high of nearly 15 euros/box at the end of the period. However, the supply was less meagre than predicted. According to the initial figures available, to be confirmed by the Customs data, the cumulative incoming shipments from the main origins were up by approximately 4 %. Chile, still by far the number one supplier to the Community market, seems to have had a slightly bigger presence than in 2016-17 (both in Europe and also the USA). The shipments calendar was slightly different, with trading starting ahead of schedule early in the season offset by shipments winding down early from late February. Unsurprisingly, the shortfall from the two main Mediterranean suppliers was confirmed, with Spanish and above all Israeli exports distinctly at a standstill compared to 2016-17. Colombia continued its rise to the fore, keeping its flow focused almost entirely on the European market (for now few orchards are currently approved to export to the USA). The big winner of this campaign was Mexico. Exports from the world number one producer should reach 60 000 t (to be confirmed, though Mexican Customs had already registered exports of more than 47 000 t to the EU-28 between early July and late January). This is a record figure, up by more than 20 000 t from 2016-17, probably largely due to the big increase in production in Jalisco, which at present primarily serves Canada, Japan and Europe, given its lack of access across the border to the USA.
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