Beef tomatoes expensive
He notes that tomato prices are high, but little domestic production is being supplied. "Of the individual tomatoes, around 2000 crates are coming in at the auction daily. The largest part of that is sold domestically, as usual. The beef tomatoes, costing around 2.30 per kilo, are currently in short supply. Apparently there are many quality problems with the imported tomatoes from Spain, Turkey and Morocco. They have a shorter shelf life than the Belgian ones."
Nothing to complain
Other vegetables are also doing well. "When it comes to pricing, I don't think there are many complaints now, apart from the leek growers," he says. "The rest of the vegetable growers should be satisfied." Remarkably, the prices of lettuce and lettuce varieties has been good for weeks. "For the normal lettuce, lamb's lettuce, iceberg lettuce and other lettuce, a lot of money is paid. On January 21, around 50 cents was paid for the lighter weights, and for the heavier ones the price even went up to 90 cents each. Of course lettuce growers have energy costs, but they are able to make enough to pay those."
Export Germany
Weiss mainly exports to Germany. "It's rather similar to every year around this time, although prices last year were somewhat worse. In winter, it's always a bit quieter. We used to be able to trade some Spanish produce, but that's increasingly going to Germany directly from the south." Jonathan also notes that German distributive trade is having a harder time. "Many Spanish exporters export directly to German retailers. The wholesalers on the early markets have to look to other customers."
Weiss is, with its parent company Calsa, present at the Fruit Logistica in Hall 6.2 - Stand B05.
For more information:
Jonathan Vandesande
J. Weiss bvba
Kempenarestraat 52
B-2860 Sint-Katelijne-Waver
Tel.: +32 15 55 20 11
Fax: +32 15 55 30 02
www.weiss.be