The first arrivals of the popular Jaffa Shamouti oranges hit UK shelves this week.
Exporter Mehadrin Tnuport Export said volumes were good and expected to peak in February and March, with availability expected to last through to the end of April.
MD Dov Warmen said: “The eating quality of the first arrivals is excellent and we are expecting fruit sizes to be larger than last year, with lower quantities of smaller fruit available for export.”
MTEX controls 85% of total production of Jaffa Shamouti in Israel, 65% of which is exported. Around 40% of the exported fruit goes to the UK market.
Warmen said: “The growing conditions this year have been ideal with high levels of winter rainfall but no hail.”