During the winter months, supply from Spain was not too large, causing high prices. Scarcity on the market usually means that cultivators and packing stations are willing to make concessions with regard to quality. This was also the case for Spanish products. It often happened that Class II fruits were packaged as Class I, and that obviously should not happen. Fortunately, quality appears to be improving now, according to Fred Jacobs from KCB.
The scarcity on the lettuce market is also clearly felt. Because of this, iceberg lettuce is imported from countries such as Egypt and the US. The American product was excellent quality, crops were firm and healthy. However, the Egyptian product was mediocre to fair. The biggest problem was often that the crops had been cut too deep. The scarcity on the lettuce market was favourable for Dutch chicory. I found some very nice batches in the sales channels.
The quality of Spanish tomatoes was fair. I sometimes found a batch with one or more small alternaria spots on the fruits. Alternaria occurred more often on Moroccan tomatoes, which also had fair quality. Alternaria is a quickly advancing deficiency, and it is obvious that similar batches had to be rejected. Dutch tomatoes had excellent quality. The beautifully shining fruits were firm and free of deficiencies.
Source: KCB