“Very high ginger prices”

KX Food has supplied organic ginger since June this year. The company has ambitious growth plans. “Up till now we imported about one to two containers per week, but from next year we want to further expand on that. We weekly import five to ten containers of conventional ginger,” says Sophie Ye. “We want to focus on increasing that to 20 containers for both kinds per week next year.”

It is currently harvesting time for ginger in China. “The harvest is nearly over, but then it always has to be dried. That means that the new shipments are meant for next year February. We are currently still trading last season’s harvest.” The prices for ginger were very low, but at the end of the season, the market recovered. “About six weeks ago it started, and prices doubled from 650 dollar to 1300 dollar per tonne. Apparently, there is a shortage on the market in China, because certain companies purchased large volumes. It is unclear how long this situation of very high prices will last. It does not often happen that this much is given for ginger this late in the season. At first we thought this would only last a few weeks, but prices are still sky-high.”

The arrival of Brazilian ginger could possibly have an influence on prices. “These are usually several euros higher than those of Chinese ginger. It is remarkable that certain retailers prefer Brazilian ginger. This is due to the fact that they use less pesticides. But we can guarantee that the flavour of Chinese ginger is much better. When we can start supplying more organic ginger, we will take the lead on countries such as Brazil. We know buyers are willing to pay more for organic, it is more labour-intensive, after all.”