We cannot yet say tomato season was bungled

The Belgian greenhouse vegetable season opened not long ago, but the current situation cannot be called positive. Out of tomatoes, cucumbers, courgettes, aubergines and bell peppers, only the last one is doing well. “For this product we did not yet have a sharp drop in prices,” Benny Cuypers of LAVA says. “We can say bell peppers are doing fine. Prices this week are even a little stronger.”

Cuypers continues: “With cucumbers it is changeable, occasionally there are better moments, but there are also periods when prices drop sharply. Courgettes are also a difficult story. In Belgium we have fairly large productions, and outdoor cultivation has not even started yet. Up till now we have had much competition from Spain for courgettes and prices were moderate to poor. Aubergines do moderately well, this greenhouse vegetable has also not done well in price. We had large quantities fairly soon, and demand is going laboriously.

The situation seems the most dramatic for tomatoes. “Pressure on prices occurred quickly, and that situation remained. Up till now tomatoes have not yet had special prices.” Last week’s warm weather did have a good influence on the consumption and prices of cucumbers and bell peppers, according to Cuypers. “We also expected a revival for tomatoes, but unfortunately we were disappointed.” Has this not yet become a structural problem for tomatoes by now? “Of course we cannot deny that production in Belgium and the Netherlands has risen sharply in recent years. Additionally, we lost the market for tomatoes in Russia. Previously we used to have good prices at the start of the season, but that was not the case this season. However, we cannot yet draw conclusions. It is still too early to say the entire tomato season was bungled. We hope the tide will soon turn, because this is bad for the growers.”