“High hopes Dutch Elstar market finally come true”

The green light has been given to the season for Elstar apples. “Hopes were already quite high, but that’s always a bit dangerous. This year, the high hopes will come true for the first time in 20 years,” says Guido van Veldhoven of the growing, cooling and sorting company of the same name from Meteren, the Netherlands. The growing area of Van Veldhoven is 30 hectares of top fruit, of which 12 hectares are Elstar.

“Besides, the quality of the Elstar is very good. We had hardly any hail damage, and colouring also went well. We personally had a good harvest, but I’ve heard it hasn’t been easy nationally. We won’t get higher than a 70 per cent harvest,” Guido expects. “Many people finished harvesting quite a bit earlier. Many plots were irrigated here in the Betuwe, but not all of them. The Elstar harvest is also much lower in Germany, except in the north, so we should get some export demand from there.”

Price levels for good quality Elstar apples are currently just above one euro. “The market is stable to slightly rising. All in all, it’s a market with potential. In other years, the market would be slightly more pressured due to the third and fourth harvests this time of year, but that’s not the case now. At the start of the season, there was a bit of criticism on the high pricing of the new harvest in supermarkets, but for now it hasn’t been in the way of consumption,” Guido concludes.

For more information:
Guido van Veldhoven
Van Veldhoven Fruit
Blankertseweg 3b
4194 NL Meteren, NL
Mob: +31 (0)6 51 90 52 80
info@veldhovenfruit.nl