Traditionally, the demand for asparagus increases towards Easter. "As expected the prices are also good. Auction prices for double A asparagus are even up to a level of 18-20 Euro," says Sjraar Hulsman of The Greenery. The amount of Dutch asparagus now comes fully from heated greenhouses and heated cultivation in tunnels. "There are wide sales. The Dutch retailers have all started and there is also a good demand from wholesale. Because the German production is making everyone wait, there is also demand from our neighbours to the East and there is even demand for Dutch asparagus from France as well."
"Last year the unheated asparagus from the mini tunnels was in production around this time, but it's too cold for that at the moment. The asparagus needs a temperature of 8 to 12ºC for the head of the plant and we can't achieve that without heating at the moment. We will need to wait until the temperature rises further for a larger supply. This is when the mini tunnels will be added." According to Sjraar the early Easter isn't definitively negative to the asparagus market. "Last year Easter was late and it wasn't a good season, for the greenhouse growers in particular. They had competition from the mini tunnels and the open ground before Easter. It looks a lot better for those growers now."
The Greenery's asparagus area has grown strongly once again this year. "We have had the focus to come onto the market early in the season for the last couple of years and a lot of growers have gone along with this," according to Sjraar. Competition from other countries is still limited at the moment, he says. "As far as that is concerned the market is very positive. Peru has had shortages in the market for the last few weeks and due to cold the production of Spanish green asparagus is frozen in certain areas. The Dutch green asparagus aren't expected until week 17/18. Our colleague Gerard van Loon in Italy has now made the first contacts to grow green asparagus in March and April for the Dutch market, so that will undoubtedly be followed up."
For more information:
Sjraar Hulsman
The Greenery
Tel: +31 (0) 180 656 979
s.hulsman@thegreenery.com
www.thegreenery.com