It was a calm period for onions and carrots. “That was due to the holidays in particular. The holiday period is over by now, and everything is starting to recover a bit again,” says Jozef Cool. “We’ve been working hard every day, it’s just prices that are a bit disappointing, both for carrot and onion. There’s plenty of supply.”
This photo was taken 14 days ago, and shows a Belgian batch that didn’t come up properly.
Carrots
He indicates that summer carrot is currently being harvested. “Qualities vary per batch in Belgium. Some are disappointing, but some are very good. Much depends on how much water they’ve had, whether the fields have had rain or were irrigated. Besides, it also depends on the region. Apparently it isn’t all that bad in the Netherlands.” The harvest of storage carrot will only start in October/November. “In recent weeks, we’ve had quite a bit of rain, so those batches can profit form that. They have two more months to grow. And some batches were sown later, we have high hopes for those as well. They might be a bit smaller.”
Belgian carrot.
Onions
“For onions, the largest problem will be the sizes this season,” says Jozef. “It’s not that the problem is immediately solved just because it has rained now. Due to the long-lasting drought, the onions will be smaller. It’s often more difficult to get rid of those sizes, the Netherlands and Belgium want large sizes.” He indicates some plant onions are still available. “We also have seed onions, those two overlap a bit. That’s not great for prices.”
The grower and trader expects trade will recover eventually. “But for now, between harvests, it’s like reading tea leaves. Much depends on the weather, and the harvests in neighbouring countries will also play a significant part. Regarding export, there's currently some interest, but demand isn’t starting. We expect that to happen in coming weeks.”
For more information:
Roger & Jozef Cool BVBA
Bevrijdingslaan 116
B-9200 Dendermonde, Belgium
+32 52 21 25 05
info@rjcool.be
www.rjcool.be