Comment: Most of the Home Guard and Premiere varieties are now cleared on the market. More Queens are being lifted in the southeast this week.

There is good demand for early crops to date and quality is reported to be very good.

Prices of Queens are reported in the region of €1,000 in tonne boxes.

It will be another two to three weeks before crops are fit along the east coast. Across Europe, physical prices in the processing sector are holding steady, with most factories now heading back to full production and using contracts or stocks purchased earlier in the season.

Heavy storms tracked through France to the Netherlands, where many areas have received 30mm to 50mm during the week, with exceptional totals of 100mm.