"Gap in strawberry supply, but less demand"

The warm weather brought the strawberry supply sharply forward. The first planting's crop has just about been sold. This has caused a slight gap with the second planting. "This resulted in considerably higher prices last week", says Ronald van Vossen, the Dutch company, Fruit World Breda's, Commercial Manager.

The demand is, however, also lower than last week. Then, there were significant marketing campaigns held in the Netherland and Germany. "There is somewhat more demand in Austria and Switzerland. In general, however, there is less demand", says Ronald. The market for red currants also began much earlier, according to him. This has resulted in massive price fluctuations for the Chilean product.

"There is still a good supply of Spanish blueberries and raspberries from the last growth cycle. They have poor quality in general. Prices are, however, doing their rounds on the market", he continues. "In Portugal, temperatures have risen considerably to between 30 and 38 ºC. Production is in full swing there. All in all, this means a full market and low prices."

"At the beginning of summer, we also, traditionally, deal with large supplies of Spanish summer fruit. Then, people would rather buy two melons for EUR1 than a punnet of strawberries for EUR3. In that regard, soft fruit is in a slightly more expensive price category. This just makes you resourceful", concludes Ronald.