Leek cultivators have been happy for a while

New leeks arrived in May already, and the market situation has been positive up till now. “At certain moments prices were even more than a Euro. Currently, prices are between 80 and 85 cent, and that is still quite nice. Better than this time last year,” says cultivator Koen Franco from Torhout. He supplies his products to the REO Auction and has an area of about ten hectares.

Franco indicates that the decent price level has several causes. “Of course, it has not been very warm yet, and besides, supply to the auction is not very high.” A lot of rain fell in several parts of Belgium. “Rainfall was very localised. It was not actually too bad here in Torhout, fortunately. We have no trouble harvesting. Other cultivators, on the other hand, were hit pretty hard because of the rain.”

Franco is very busy harvesting the leeks planted in March. He expects the positive market situation to last, so long as it does not become too warm. “If everything stays normal, nothing special will happen to supply and price. But you never know what might happen. You always have to wait and see.”