"Expectations bell pepper market positive for near future"

The Dutch bell pepper season has been going for about six weeks now with green bell peppers. All in all, the Dutch acreage has hardly changed compared to last year. There are some small changes in the colours, but nothing significant. Salesman Marco Bergman of Harvest House takes stock.

"Pricing for the first period with the green bell pepper was outright disappointing, with prices far below the multi-year average," Marco says. "Pricing for the first green bell peppers was around the level of the Spanish bell pepper, and at certain moments the Spanish even yielded more."

Colours
"Supply of the first coloured Dutch bell peppers started last week, and these are now only available on the market in small quantities. Supplies are very lacklustre at the moment, a development that looks to continue until about week 18. Until then, Dutch bell peppers with a colour other than green are only expected in limited amounts," Marco says.

Marco Bergman (right) with the first orange bell peppers of 2015

Spain
"At the moment, there are fewer and fewer bell peppers, and supplies are decreasing fast. From week 13 on, 'hardly' any Spanish produce is expected to be available from the area around Almería, and Murcia is expected to appear on the supply market for bell peppers later than usual. Due to the colder period in Murcia, cultivation there has also been delayed a bit," the bell pepper seller knows.

Israel
"The Israeli bell pepper season has been irregular all winter when it comes to supply and quality. More and more often, the quality of the Israeli bell pepper has been inferior. The quantities sent to the Netherlands also weren't as high as in previous years. We think fewer bell peppers were sold through the Netherlands. Israel is able to keep going for a while yet, but we're not expecting them to do so. Around Easter, however, they will probably try to generate a better price with Israeli bell peppers than what has been the case recently," Marco expects.

"The expectations for bell peppers are quite high for the near future. Looking at the above, we think that mainly the market for coloured bell peppers will see quite high demand in the coming weeks. This was completely different last season. Last season, supply was high, for this season it's the other way around. Supply is expected to be lower, and demand will probably be normal to good, also because of the early Easter."

For more information:
Marco Bergman
Harvest House
Tel:+31 (0) 1 74 519 291
m.bergman@harvesthouse.nl
www.harvesthouse.nl