Litchi: Demand for litchi weakened considerably in January, confirming the festive character of the fruit. Sales slowed more or less markedly from one European market to the next. Stocks, combined with arrivals in containers during the first half of the month, resulted in large reserves that were probably out of proportion with constantly decreasing demand. In this difficult context, the price of litchi from Madagascar, the main supplier of the market, deteriorated gradually, not to mention produce rejected because of problems of quality. The celebration of the Chinese New Year at the end of the month gave a short-lived boost to demand and substantial volumes were sold. Mango: Market conditions improved considerably after the serious disturbances in December resulting mainly from plethoric shipments from Brazil. During this period, mango supplies for the European market switched from Brazil to Peru. The market cleared rapidly with the very rapid decrease in Brazilian deliveries and the serious deficit in Peruvian shipments. In the second half of the month, under-supply allowed a significant recovery of prices to a level more typical of the time of year. Pineapple: January was marked by small Latin American supplies of Sweet and by the great irregularity in the quality of the fruits received by the markets. Supply by air was also very small from all sources except for Cameroon. Finally, sales remained fairly dynamic on the 'Victoria' pineapple market even though there was no particular enthusiasm for this fruit during the Chinese New Year celebrations. Sea freight: Although the TCE average for the month of January was compatible with the corresponding calculation for 2008 this could not mask the sense of disappointment felt by owners and operators, despite the global recession. Even though there has been a significant net reduction in specialised reefer capacity as well as a dramatic fall in the price of oil since January 2008 the effect on both demand and vessel yie