Fruitnet

Covid continues to cast a long shadow over the European fresh produce business. In the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, trade association Freshfel Europe set about assessing the impact of the crisis on Europe’s fruit and vegetable trade. Now, after nearly a year of unprecedented disruption to several parts of the produce supply network – from production all the way through to wholesale, retail and foodservice – the financial impact of the crisis is becoming more clear. Despite strong demand especially through the supermarkets, costs have increased significantly. Freshfel’s early estimate put additional operating costs for the European fresh produce chain at roughly €500m per month, as companies did everything they could to keep fruit and veg growing and flowing through the market. But now, almost 12 months on, the organisation is looking further ahead, to gauge the pandemic’s longer-term effects. “I think Covid has also started to change consumer behaviour and the sector needs to adapt to that,” says