"Increasing competition among Spanish cucumbers and sweet peppers in Dutch season"

Although the price of red peppers rose again on Tuesday, they are still not performing well on the greenhouse vegetable market. "It does not help that there has been significant expansion in the Netherlands over the last two years. In addition, the weather is lagging behind with the cold spring. This is causing a backlog in production now", says Berry Olsthoorn, main buyer at the Best Fresh Group.

"In the last two years of the Dutch season, we have seen more competition among Spanish cucumbers and sweet peppers. There are plenty of newly harvested cucumbers from Spain on offer at the moment. In addition, Dutch farmers will be in full production in the coming weeks. Polish production will start in June again, with green peppers at the beginning of the month and red sweet peppers and aubergines at the end of June. Polish greenhouse cultivation has increased sharply in the last few years, no thanks to subsidies. And it is almost holidays", says Berry.

The demand is also, according to the buyer, nothing to write home about. "In previous years, we still had extra demand for sweet peppers from the US or a demand from the UK for cucumbers when the weather improved. But this is not the case now. Furthermore, the loss of the Russian Market is still being felt. This has resulted in low prices across the board."

"Sweet pepper will be hanging heavy on the plants over the next few weeks, the market is saturated with tomatoes and cucumber cultivation is also in full swing. The increase in high-grade cultivation of cucumbers means there is decreased crop rotation. What is the solution? Very hot weather in Spain which will lay waste to the cucumber and sweet pepper harvests. Or a situation like last year where a hailstorm destroyed a number of Dutch greenhouses", says Berry.

For more information:
Berry Olsthoorn
Best Fresh Group
Tel: +31174-530818
Berry.Olsthoorn@bestfreshgroup.com