The French association En’Diva produces 15,000 tons of chicory on an annual basis. Alban Descantes, of En’Diva: “The balance between supply and demand on the chicory market is a delicate one. This year the market situation has been good until the second week of February, but in the third week the snow in Ile-de-France has upset the balance.”
“The snow immobilized almost all activities on the chicory market, and obviously this has influenced the prices. Now that the French holidays have started, activity rates decreased again. This is a yearly phenomenon, but in combination with the passive situation in week 6 it has upset the balance is such a way that the prices decreased quite a lot. It’s difficult to say what is going to happen during the rest of the season, but the production of chicory roots seems to be high so there is no reason to be worried.”
En’Diva offers seven different products : white, red, organic and baby chicory and the salad varieties carmine, barbucine and friseline. White chicory is their best selling product by far, but the demand for specialty varieties seems to be increasing. Alban explains: “Over the last three years, the red chicory market has almost matured. The volumes we sell are stagnating. The market for baby chicory is still developing, but we can already export certain volumes.”
Some problems occurred during the production of Carmine. Alban: “Volumes were low because the seed supply did not function properly. Twenty of our seed producers worked really hard on this subject and succeeded in solving the problems. Now we can offer bigger volumes of high quality products.”
En’Diva is a dynamic exporter and mainly exports to Germany and Italy. “We only export the white chicory varieties. Our specialty products are intended for the French market. They are sold on the entire distribution circuit: restaurants, individuals and retail. Because we have gotten so big, we are able to meet all the export requirements. We focus on our clients and make the best efforts to meet their demands.”
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En’Diva