In the past week, the sales of chicory fell considerably behind in the Netherlands. “At Belgian auctions, prices rose to about one euro, but in the Netherlands, prices were stuck around 50/60 cent for a long time. Prices recovered somewhat in the end, but we expected more,” says saleswoman Krishta Heibrink of Kwekerij LOF. “Sales of radicchio aren’t great either, but we grow that on customer demand, so we don’t have much available for the free market anyway.”
Krishta blames the disappointing sales on a large supply. “It’s not even that there’s much pressure from foreign supply, the pens in the Netherlands have just been producing very well this year, so there’s just a lot of chicory available,” Krishta continues. “The great weather during Easter didn’t do sales any good either. There were some Easter promotions, but although chicory is an ideal salad vegetable, and does well on barbecues as well, consumers aren’t really aware of that yet.”
“All in all, sales weren’t too easy in the first four months of the year. Traditionally, supply decreases as we head towards the summer because the pens get older. Kwekerij LOF. does everything possible to encourage consumption. For example, we want to put the two-piece packaging into an even bigger spotlight in the coming weeks. Flow-packs are now often opened in supermarkets because there’s too much chicory in them for single households. That’s why we see a lot of potential in the two-piece packaging, and we can provide these very well,” Krishta concludes.
For more information:
Kristha Heibrink: Monday-Wednesday
Marloes Neefjes: Thursday-Friday
Witlofkwekerij LOF.
Pilotenweg 28/1
8311 PL Espel, the Netherlands
Tel: +31 527 27 16 16
verkoop@witlofkwekerijlof.nl
www.witlofkwekerijlof.nl