General
In the past 8 weeks, ever since the Covid lockdown started in the UK, demand for food has held up in the manufacturing/ processing and retail spheres. However, in the food service sector, the closure of pubs, restaurants, events and the hospitality has impacted adversely on the industry. It has affected overall demand to some extent. Some buyers have been slow to take up existing contracts which are on call off. Others, especially those supplying only to the restaurant trade, are seeking extended credit terms from their suppliers.
Import costs and hence prices at the till, have remained firm partly due to supply restrictions at origin and also because of a weak pound to dollar exchange rate.
There are, nevertheless, encouraging signs of the restaurant sector trying to innovate with home deliveries and take away options thereby keeping them going, albeit at low key, until such time as the restrictions are eased. The UK government has indicated that they would consider opening up the restaurant sector in early July, if certain conditions are met and the infection rate is under control.
Given this silver lining in an otherwise gloomy environment, we have expanded our Price List with offerings of new items such as Coconut Cream Cube, Extra Fancy Shred and Coconut Flour. We also continue to work with some of our partners with offerings of Date Paste and Date Syrup, Nibbed Almonds, Greek Currants and a small range of spices.
Please note that our Price List is available on request.
Desiccated Coconut
The lockdown in Northern Philippines continues to cause havoc not only with contracted shipments but also with offers . Suppliers are only able to offer shipments for second half of the year and nothing on spot.
Sri Lanka has ended lockdown and is back in operation. However, suppliers are busy shipping out backlogs of orders and are hence offering products from July onwards.
Indonesia is operating normally. But given the shortages from competing origins, the better suppliers are holding firm on their prices. Some lesser, non GFSI accredited suppliers, are cashing in with some discounts prior to a two week closure for Ramadan.
We have separated our palletised and full container load offerings. Our DC Fine and Medium grades in stock are High Fat and SO2 Free.
We have Extra Fancy Shred (unsweetened/with SO2) in stock and will be having High Fat, SO2 Free Coconut Flour in our store by end June/ early July.
Coconut Chips & Sweetened Twine
There is a shortage of Coconut Chips (Raw and Toasted) which can be linked directly to the lockdown in the Philippines and the backlog in shipments out of Sri Lanka. This has greatly inconvenienced cereal and fruit bar manufacturers. The origin and quality of chips is quite important to end users. Thinner chips tend to break easily and compromise on the quality of the end product.
We will have stock of Toasted Coconut Chips from Sri Lanka by end June/ early July. We will also have Raw Coconut Chips in end July/ early August. Our chips are produced in a GFSI accredited factory and are a well known brand.
In the meantime, we do have in stock Raw Coconut Smiles, which are raw coconut chips but with a brown paring or skin.. This is used for fruit and nut mixes and can also be toasted.
We also have a range of Flavoured Coconut Chips. The flavours we currently hold are Caramel Sea Salt, Pineapple and Chilli Lime. While these are not substitutes for unflavoured coconut chips, to which one can add a specific recipe, they are nevertheless delicious as a snack or as a garnish on a cereal or even salads.
We have mentioned the unsweetened extra fancy shred above. We also hold in stock a Sweetened Coconut Twine. This product is typically used for cake decorations.
Creamed Coconut and Milk
Creamed Coconut or Coconut Butter is the fat extracted from milling High Fat Desiccated Coconut. The fat in the DC is typically around 65% and the rest is comprised of fibre. This product easily melts in heat and is ideal for ready meals and also in recipes for cakes and confectionery.
We currently hold stocks of Flaked Cream Coconut which are in the form of granules of cream coconut. However, we will soon be having stocks of Cream Coconut Cubes, which is exactly what the name suggests. There is a third format of Creamed Coconut that we will also be holding and that is 200 g Cream Coconut Blocks. These are ideal for home kitchen.
Our Creamed Coconut is High Fat and SO2 Free and produced at our sister company, Pt. Mundial Rasa Indonesia, who are GFSI accredited. We currently supply the Cream Coconut Blocks in Private Label to retail distributors and would be happy to hear from other customers in this field.
Our Coconut Milk is in 20 kg aseptic bags. We offer 2 origins for this product – from Sri Lanka and Indonesia. Our Coconut Milk does not contain any additive.
Dates
We are currently offering Aseel variety Pitted Dates of Pakistan origin. The Aseel Diced Dates are of a Premium quality with max 5% rice flour and max 1 pit for every 500 kg. The cut is standard 8-10 mm. We also offer Sayer Diced Dates of the same size.
Our recent product introductions include a soft Zahedi Date Paste and Date Syrup. These are ideal natural sweeteners for ready meals, condiments and pastes and bakery usages.
Sesame Seeds
Sesame Seeds are currently weak, primarily due to weak demand in Asia and also supply constraint due to lockdowns in India and Nigeria, which are our sourcing points. Our suppliers are all GFSI accredited producing premium quality goods and we meet the bakery requirements of customers in UK and continental Europe.
Here is the latest report on the trends in the Sesame Market:
Demand : Demand is getting better from China. New S Korea tender of 10,000 Mts expected soon.
Supply : New crop arrivals have started and shipments should start from early June. Quantity expected is around 80,000 Mts in Gujarat (including Black Sesame).
Trend : Bearish to Stable in June (Good time to cover long till September)
We do have some Toasted Hulled and Natural Sesame to offer spot (small quantities only). We have offered full container loads each of Hulled and Natural Sesame Seeds, for sale to major European ports on C&F basis and will also be having stocks of both these products in our UK store end June/ early July.
Nuts & Dry Fruit Selection
We offer a small selection of whole and processed Almonds, Cashews, Hazelnuts and Pistachios. In general the prices for most nuts, except Hazelnuts and Pistachio, are weak.
We also offer a small range of Dry Fruit like Currants, Raisins & Sultanas. Please enquire.
Spices – Special Offer
We are offering packing grade Cumin Seeds and Cumin Powder on a full container basis. However, we would be happy to talk to customers who would like to consider buying pallet loads of landed goods. We also offer Ground Coriander which is milled in the UK. Steam Sterilised options may be available. Our products are pesticides residue tested.
We publish monthly Price Lists and our May edition is out now. Email us on [email protected] in case you would like to have a copy, mentioning your name, the name of your company, your location and a brief introduction about yourself and we will get back to you.
The Sales Team
Edible Solutions Limited