At the moment, carrot trade isn't wild yet, but Paul van der Linde of the Emmeloord trading company with the same name is not pessimistic at all. "In Germany and Belgium, the carrot quality is reportedly very bad, partly because harvest took place under wet circumstances. Mouse damage is also not nearly as bad here as in Belgium and Germany. In the Netherlands, we have a very good harvest, although I expect kilos to be pretty disappointing due to mouse damage. Normally we harvest 130 cases per hectare, now we're at an average of around 145-150 cases, although the weight is less than 700 kg per case this year."
The carrot price is currently between 8 and 11 cents for field crop, and 15-17 for the washed carrot. "At the moment, there is some demand from Africa and countries like Germany and Croatia, but the real demand still has to get going. Many countries also still have their own supplies. For instance, not much is going to Poland and Eastern Europe. That's inherent to the time of year and doesn't say anything about the rest of the season. If we get frost for the next two weeks, then things will look totally different. I hope the frost will set in soon. In the surrounding countries, a lot of carrots are still out in the field. With frost, it's end of story," Paul says. "Many companies decided not to buy supplies this year, something you did see in other years. When demand gets going, those companies will have to buy."
The direct effect of the Russian boycott isn't that bad, according to Paul. "The Netherlands doesn't even export that many carrots to Russia, relatively speaking. A bigger problem is that the Polish carrots can't go to Russia, and are sold in our markets."
For more information:
Van der Linde
Paul van der Linde
Mob: +31 (0) 6 - 52 06 36 01+31 (0) 6 - 52 06 36 01
Paulvanderlinde@vanderlindebv.com
www.vanderlindebv.com