The Dutch carrot harvest is in full swing at the moment. Paul van der Linde of the company of the same name from Emmeloord speaks of an above average harvest in the Noordoostpolder. "We're averaging a harvest of around 140 boxes per hectare and that's a very good yield. We've not had as much bother from rain as in other years. We've just come out of a dry period and last week 50 millimetres fell over a course of a few days. The ground could take it easily. Luckily the quality of the carrots looks fine. The only problem is that the carrot which is being harvested right now is coming in a little too warm. There haven't been extremes like in the south of the country. The yields in the Flevopolder have also been disappointing."
The trade is still quiet at the moment, but according to Paul this is inherent to this time of year. "At the moment there is ex-field contracting between 9 and 12 cents and this is in line with previous years. There isn't much demand from abroad right now, but traditionally it gets busier around November/December. The carrot market is positive, but we'll have to see how it goes. Belgium has has disappointing yields and a disappointing quality. Germany seems to have a reasonably yield, but we're interested to see how the cultivation in Poland is doing, because it is the East Block that will eventually demand carrots."
Van der Linde, originally active in the potato trade, started washing, sorting and packaging carrots which are marketed under the brand Terra D'or. The company doesn't grow itself, but buys carrots from growers in the polders. Their buyers include small packagers and the processing industry both at home and abroad. The cooling and freezing company have over 60,000 m³ of mechanically cooled space.
For more information:
Van der Linde
Paul van der Linde
Mob: +31 (0) 6 - 52 06 36 01
Paulvanderlinde@vanderlindebv.com
www.vanderlindebv.com