“Asparagus market misses public holidays for extra sales”

The asparagus market started the year with low productions and high prices, but in week 19 this changed when there was suddenly a massive supply causing a decrease in price. “The price for Double-A asparagus is currently around 3 Euro, so that is not very high. We are now missing out on public holidays, such as Mother’s Day and Whitsun, which always boost the sales of asparagus,” says Pierre Smets of the eponymous wholesaler’s P. Smets & Zn from Geelen, the Netherlands.

“During the season asparagus is a big product for us. We see that demand remained stable in previous years, from Germany as well, where we have firm asparagus customers,” Smets says. The wholesaler buys the asparagus at ZON and The Greenery auctions. He expects the season to meander on a bit in coming weeks. “Traditionally volumes decrease a little from week 22.”

According to Smets the asparagus are of very good quality this year. He is an advocate for asparagus remaining a true seasonal product. “The season ends on 24 June, and that is a good thing. Otherwise it will become a standardised product and it will not be exclusive anymore.”

The customers of P. Smets contains retailers, catering suppliers, street traders and farm shops. The customers are all within a radius of 100 kilometers from Geelen, and are 60 per cent Dutch, 30 per cent Belgian and 10 per cent German customers.