Litchi: Litchi was almost totally absent from the European markets from the beginning of February to the end of March. The short Australian season that generally follows that of the Indian Ocean sources did not happen this year for lack of export quality production. In March, only a few Iate batches from South Africa reached the market from time to time during the first half of the month. The Thai export season started in mid-month, two weeks earlier than in preceding years. Mango: Moderate supply and increased demand for Easter resulted in strong mango prices in the first half of April. The decrease in demand in the second half of the month and the gradual increase in arrivals caused prices to fall. The dominance of small fruits, the multiplication of supply sources and uneven quality made market conditions much more complex in the second fortnight of the month. Pineapple: Operators expected to receive much larger volumes of pineapple in April for the Easter period. However, supply of 'Sweet' only increased a little in the second week after Easter. Sales remained fluid. In contrast, demand for 'Smooth Cayenne' was very small and this strongly affected sales. The air pineapple market performed fairly well as supply was quite irregular. Sales of 'Victoria' were more difficult and the quality of these fruits was uneven throughout the month. Sea freight: After a disappointing first quarter of 2009 the charter market returned the worst April TCE average in a decade and possibly ever. All the market conditions that were running in its favour last year turned against it this year: fewer bananas were shipped, more fruit from South America was containerised, the Russian market absorbed less and less poultry was shipped from the US.