It's already been about three weeks since cucumber growers supplying to BelOrta got a good price for their product. This had to do with Spain supplying later, a lot of supermarket promotions in Germany, and Belgium and the Netherlands being at the end of their season. The highest peak was on October 10, when 400 grammes would sell for 1.12 Euro.
High point
Meanwhile, cucumber prices have gone down again to values that are too low for the time of year. Jo Lambrecht and Jos van Dessel of BelOrta tell the story of the cucumber revival. Jo: "Early September, around 37 cents would still be paid for 400 grammes. Around September 10, the price went down to 25 cents, and on September 22 it was even 20 cents. Afterwards, the price slowly went up in a good three weeks, peaking at 1.12 on October 10. That was the high point."
Jos van Dessel explains: "There were a lot of promotions in German supermarkets. Not just one, but with all the big players. Normally, those would have been partially supplied to by Spain already, but production there was delayed for a few weeks. German retailers needed cucumbers, so they just 'emptied' the Netherlands and Belgium. Dutch cooperatives had already delivered packages based on a price of a few dozens cents, but there were still shortages then. Everyone had to jump in, being happy to receive 80, 90 cents, and even more than one Euro. The growers supplying to BelOrta really benefited from that, the growers supplying in the Netherlands not at all." Jo Lambrecht: "The past market days, prices for main sizes were a lot lower again. Here and there, the first Spanish cucumbers were also appearing at retailers."
More peaks
Around 80% of BelOrta's cucumbers comes from the Netherlands, and that share is still growing. Jos says that the cucumber season did see more peaks. "But not as extreme as the one on October 10. There were some price increases of 20 cents, for instance. In the Netherlands you don't see that as much, that's usually kept reasonably level thanks to long-term procurement."
More peaks
Around 80% of BelOrta's cucumbers comes from the Netherlands, and that share is still growing. Jos says that the cucumber season did see more peaks. "But not as extreme as the one on October 10. There were some price increases of 20 cents, for instance. In the Netherlands you don't see that as much, that's usually kept reasonably level thanks to long-term procurement."
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