French prune producers, concentrated in the south east of the country, are predicting an average crop. "This year will see something between 40,000t and 45,000t," said chairman of the Bureau national Interprofessionnel du Pruneau, Philippe Valey. "The heavy storms between Christmas and the New Year have cost producers 300-400 hectares of trees, but on 13,000ha. It has not hit our output seriously." In the wake of the storm, thousands of trees were blown over, but growers were optimistic that the plum trees could be put back upright and that they would recover, which appears to be the case. However, French traders will be looking for an extra 10% for their product this year to meet rising costs. The Californian season is also likely to be a bit shorter than predicted this year (The Grocer, August 12, p23.) "Ideally, we're looking for 1994 prices," added Valey. The French five year average prune output is just over 50,000t, so the current 5,000t gap is unlikely to have as much impact in price talks as he would like. {{PROVISIONS }}