Gubbels Asperges has had a small extension in white asparagus this year. The volume of green asparagus at the grower from Brabant has remained the same. Walter wants to extend the purple asparagus he grows, but due to a shortage of planting material this extension is planned for next year. "The asparagus area in Holland has grown spectacularly over the last three years, from 2,400 to over 3,000 hectares. This sounds big, but the consumption per head of the population has also grown hugely and the supermarkets are taking the asparagus into their assortment more widely.
After years of increase in area the German asparagus cultivation has not grown this year, according to the grower. "The Germans want to keep growing asparagus, but over the last few years alternative products like potatoes, beets and grains have been very expensive. These are less labour intensive products and so various German growers switched. This means that there is definitely no increase in the German asparagus cultivation this year."
Besides the growing sales of asparagus towards the retail, the restaurants are also still very important in the sales of asparagus. According to the grower, they too know how to find the Dutch asparagus. "Last year it was cold and wet and the stock heaped up and there were still lots of greenhouse asparagus at Easter. This year I expect we will have a very good market until at least Easter. The prices of white double A asparagus vary between 9.50 and 13 Euro this week, and before Monday were constantly above 10. As soon as the outside production gets going, the price will certainly drop a little, but I foresee good constant sales."
For more information:
Walter Gubbels
gubb67@planet.nl
Nieuwkuijkseweg 7
5268 LH Helvoirt
Tel.: 06-51 89 08 89