Strawberry demand going very well

The strawberry season is up and running and at Meyers Softfruit in Riemst, demand is high. Owner Wim Meyers enthusiastically explains: "It is beautiful weather and sales are in full flow. You can see that many people have been waiting for this. Sales of our produce is done via Auction BelOrta, but we also sell a portion through in-house sales."

Smoothly
There is a striking difference to last year. "We began on March 28^th with the first pick which was 18 days earlier. This is a huge difference. Things were then also slower, we had to add more heat as there was less sun. Now it's the complete opposite, it is running smoothly. We are plucking quite a lot; on average more than a kilo per square meter which is 8000 kilo per week."

Nice prices
In terms of price strawberries have been selling well. They have always sat around 4 Euro per 500 gram basket, so 8 Euro per kilo. Today that was a little less, around 6 Euro per kilo. For me personally, that is very reasonable, since you don't want to be too expensive and scare people off. Of course we do not want to give ground back to the Spanish either by making domestic prices too expensive."

Expansion
Besides strawberries, Meyer delivers other soft fruit including blackberries and red berries. "Strawberries remain the main product but we think it is important to diversify. From next year we will also offer raspberries, and we are now busy with the preparation for crop expansion. It is possible that in the next few years we will grow blueberries, then the range will be complete," said Wim laughing.

For more information:
Meyers Softfruit
Allewijstraat 3
B-3770 Riemst
GSM Louis +32 (0)495 528110
GSM Wim +32 (0)478 938826
F +32 (0)12 456647
E info@meyers-softfruit.be
W www.meyers-softfruit.be