The Belgian lettuce market finds itself in a bizarre situation. The past months, the growers' prices were around 10 cents, while on the first of July, it rose to just over 50 cents, and on July 2 it even increased to 72 cents. "Incredible," Johan Bytebier says, surprised. "It's been so bad since April, I had nearly called it quits. It was almost untenable. But now I have a bit of hope again."
He indicates that he's lost quite a bit the past months. "It was really a disaster. Adding up all the costs, we need 31 cents on average, and we kept making only 8 to 12 cents. I actually had to pay 2000 Euro per truck to achieve a normal mid price. During those ten weeks, there were three days when it went a little better. That was exactly the time when I had no crops."
Quintupled
The price change is bizarre. "On June 30, it was still 12 cents on a supply of 70,000 heads. On July 1, the price for the largest size (50 double) increased to 51 cents, with a supply of 100,000 heads. On July 2, 72 cents was paid for this size already." He expects and hopes for a further increase. "Because of the hot weather, people change their consumption patterns, and demand increases sharply. We are pleased with the better price, but one swallow doesn't make a summer. We have to wait and see, and hopefully the weather doesn't affect the quality too much. It will remain tense in the near future, but if things go well, the price could increase further to 80 cents this week. That would be great for everyone!"
Johan Bytebier comes from Nazareth. He's has had an acreage of 2.4 hectares of lettuce since 2000, and supplies his products to BelOrta.