“Organic vegetables are having a difficult time. There’s a saying in Belgium: ‘trade is dead when clothes come off,’ and this can definitely be noticed now,” says Krist Hamerlinck of Ecoveg. “Normally, prices of tomatoes recover before the holiday period, but Spain was on the market longer, so prices didn’t recover. Prices slowly started to recover last week, due to the changing weather.” The tomatoes were affected by the weather as well. “It can be seen first in Coeur de boeuf. The tomatoes are becoming more angular and they get tip rot more quickly.”
Krist Hamerlinck
Cucumbers
“We always start with Proloog in spring, which is a good variety, qualitatively. Yet we saw the crops suffer from the high temperatures in June and July. Cucumbers were a bit pointier, and a large number had to be removed during sorting,” Krist says. The company has now planted new cucumbers, and quality came back well. Although organic and conventional cucumbers are completely different products, prices are still quite similar. Organic cucumbers are also expensive during this period.
Bell peppers
According to Krist, bell pepper prices are mediocre. “Prices are lower than in previous years. On average, prices are too low, and demand isn’t very high either. All products are being sold, but it’s still not a great period.” Bell peppers also suffered during the warm period. They have some burn spots because of the sunshine, and some more tip rot compared to previous years as well. “We used chalk to improve the climate in the greenhouses, but if it’s 35 degrees Celsius outside, the greenhouse won’t become colder than 30 degrees either. On average, we have to remove more bell peppers during sorting than in previous years.”
Local-for-local
The most important sales markets for Ecoveg’s products are Scandinavia, the UK, Germany and Belgium. “We’ve noticed the organic sector is growing in Germany. There are more and more large companies , and local-for-local is a proper trend there. The sector is also gradually growing in Belgium, and they prefer their own products,” Krist says. The trader has also noticed that quality of the products has to constantly be improved as well. “In the past, a slightly poorer product could slip through the cracks, but that’s no longer the case.”
“The organic trends follow trends of conventional fruit and vegetables. We’re seeing increasing sales in aubergines. Of tomatoes, we’re selling more and more smaller varieties, and demand for large vine tomatoes is decreasing. We’ve also seen sales of sweet pointed peppers increasing. Returns are higher in this production than in regular bell peppers, so it’s an interesting production for us.” A major point of attention in the sector is the shortage of workers, and the difficulty of getting good employees. “For next season, we’re looking for new workers. Because of rising demand for organic greenhouse vegetables, it’s important to have good employees,” Krist concludes.
For more information:
Krist Hamerlinck
Ecoveg
Stoepestraat 5a
9960 ASSENEDE, Belgium
+32(0) 486 166 606