Poly lettuce is selling well at the moment. "This has been the case for a number of weeks, actually. The quantities aren't high, but price-wise, it's going pretty much as desired," says Henk van Doorne of Van Doorne Imex. Prices for poly lettuce have gone down slightly, but are still at a level of around 35 cents.
Sales of the lettuce are mainly concentrated outside Europe. "Virtually all air cargo destinations," the grower/exporter says. "Quite a lot is going to the Middle East, for instance. I'm also sending some pallets to Ukraine at the moment. Within Europe, demand is at a low level, except for the usual orders from the wholesalers."
He expects the lettuce trade to remain at this level until November. "The quality coming from Southern Europe is not very high, so that's good for us. In December, you traditionally see the fortune hunters entering the market, and quite a bit of lettuce is expected, while between January and mid-February the market will be pretty empty again."
Contrary to the poly lettuce, prices for the jumbo head lettuce are at a low level. "That ranges from 17 to 25 cents now, but prices are going up and down quite a bit. In the Westland, there are hardly any jumbo lettuce growers left," Henk says. Where lettuce growers had major problems with fusarium this year, many growers have now taken steps, for instance with disinfectant mats. "It's still on the rise a bit, but not as much as earlier this year."