Courgettes price up 60% in a week due to presence of virus

The Spanish company Frunet Bio has finished the mango season and has started the sales of organic greenhouse vegetables. Frunet has its own family owned cultivation area in the region Malaga. "Due to the damp weather in the spring and the lower temperature we only had 10% of the usual mango harvest. We had more trees without fruit than with on our plantations," says Richard Soepenberg. "This resulted in high prices. It is expected that the trees will produce ten times as much or more next year."

Greenhouse vegetables

The start of the Spanish greenhouse vegetable season has been difficult, according to Richard. "It's a lot warmer here than it was last year, with both high day and night temperatures. It hasn't dropped below 26°C during the day here yet. This is resulting in a much higher supply than was originally anticipated. Holland also still has enough of its own production, which means there is an overflowing market at the moment. There are far more vine tomatoes at the moment than was expected."

Courgettes
There is more than enough supply of the other Spanish greenhouse vegetables too, with the exception of courgettes. This vegetable has to deal with the New Delhi virus, which can spread quickly in a concentrated greenhouse area. "We also have a number of growers who have had to dig up an entire harvest and replant. But this means it's another forty days before you can harvest again. This goes for a lot of courgette growers in the country. This caused the prices of courgettes to go up by 60% in a week. This could be an expensive year for courgettes. People who have good courgettes right now can make money."

Organic sales
Frunet Bio grew by 40% this year compared to last year in turnover and volume. "The organic market is still a growing market. The organic sales are starting to get going in Spain too, but in countries not affected by the economic crisis, such as Sweden, it is growing hugely. On the other hand it is fairly well spread out and finding new customers is automatically at the cost of your competitor."

For more information:
Frunet Bio
Richard Soepenberg
Tel: + 34 952 52 75 10
Móvil: + 34 661 684 861
Fax.: + 34 952 52 75 11
Ctra. De Algarrobo Km. 2,5
29750 - Algarrobo. MALAGA
Richard@frunet.net
www.frunet.net