“December could turn into a good month for Spanish greenhouse vegetables”

The Spanish greenhouse vegetable season has been under way for a number of weeks. Kees Havenaar from Frutas Luna gives an update on the current market situation. From unprecedentedly good prices for aubergine, tomato and cucumber, to the bell pepper market, which has declined sharply after some good weeks: “It will depend on how supplies develop, but if they remain as they are now, December could turn into a very good month.”

“Tomatoes are very limitedly available. Everything is a bit later, so prices for both vine, loose and plum are currently sky-high. Whether these are realistic prices as regards free trade remains to be seen. For tomatoes, I think it will continue on in this manner for a while longer,” Havenaar says.

“Cucumbers are also doing less well, because of the cold nights in November and the dark days. Late cucumbers have also been somewhat delayed, resulting in unprecedentedly good prices. There are too few cucumbers for the programmes, and traders are now buying those completely up, causing the cucumber to remain expensive. Although I think prices are now past their peak, the product will remain more expensive than it has been in years,” Havenaar expects.

“The bell pepper market was fun for two weeks, but that is no longer the case. Because of rain and the holidays, prices increased sharply, but that is now over. I expect prices will return to less than 1 euro in the coming days. Demand is almost nonexistent, but that is also because Israeli bell peppers are turning up occasionally, for much lower prices than the Spanish bell peppers. I predict a difficult year for bell peppers, at least this season. But as always, there will be a month to make up for everything. Whether this will be in February or March is hard to say, and it will be decided by the weather.”