Trade for the retail sector and home consumption continues to improve. There is good demand for packing quality material. Liftings continue at pace around the country and weather permitting another fortnight should clear a lot of ground. Once again there are reports of quality issues on early planted main crop material.
Across Europe, lifting is proceeding cautiously but good progress has been made and a high percentage of crop destined for fresh consumption is in store. Clearance of processing crops was around 60% in some areas 10 days ago due to concerns about bruising, but much better progress has been made since then.
In the U.K. clearance into store in the Midlands and the South is almost 90% but there is still crop which was planned for ex field movement for processing that is not yet lifted.
