Although the Mabru in Brussels, Belgium, was quite busy early last Thursday, a lot of traders are waiting for better weather. “The current weather isn’t May weather. We need sunshine and warm weather to sell stone and soft fruit. Citrus, on the other hand, is doing well. That wasn’t the case for a while, because we had high temperatures early in the year, but it’s selling well now,” the people from Bollaerts said.
Mother’s Day
Frank Valckenier, of the company of the same name and specialist in selling soft fruit, saw the sales of strawberries increasing just before Mother’s Day, last Sunday. “Although the weather isn’t great, the sales of strawberries are going well. Supply is limited as well, and that’s why prices are recovering again. Fourteen days ago, strawberries were still being sold for dump prices, fortunately they’re rising again.”
Frank Valckenier
“We recently also started selling Belgian raspberries and blackberries again, and that’s also all going well. We have to sell them now, because April and May are the months a profit has to be made. In the months of June and July, the people start going on holiday again, and domestic consumption drops,” Frank says. “The first Spanish cherries, on the other hand, are not selling that well. They really need sunshine for good sales.”
Top fruit
Frank considers the sales of top fruit to be disastrous this year. “We just don’t have the quality. Some good batches can be found on the market, but these could still be disappointing. We work with stocks as little as possible, because the fruit just doesn’t have a good storability. Demand is bad this year as well, a lot of customers drop out when they receive poorer quality.” According to neighbour Vrijders, the top fruit sales are starting to increase a bit.
Egyptian onions
Gradually, Fort Anne is starting to receive the new Spanish potatoes. “Volumes are still quite small, but quality of what we’re receiving is good. The market is fairly stable and sales are going well,” Anne says. As for the onions, the trader is selling only Egyptian ones. “Qualitatively, the Egyptian onions are very good. We stopped carrying Dutch onions a while ago, because of their dramatic quality, and we stopped carrying Belgian product at the start of the season.”
“Because of the cold weather, the sales of winter vegetables are still going well for us. Leek, celery and chicory are our top products at the moment, and these are sold for high prices. Last year’s dry weather still has a lot of influence on vegetable prices. White cabbage is sold for nearly three euro per head. Normally, a lot of watermelons are sold during Ramadan, but these are doing very badly now. Soup vegetables are much more popular,” says Rudy van Riet of the wholesaler’s of the same name.
Rudy van Riet
Elesco’s mushroom assortment. Besides mushrooms, they also carry cresses, which are becoming more and more popular.
For more information:
Mabru Vroegmarkt
Werkhuizenkaai 22
1000 Brussels, Belgium
+32 22 15 51 69
www.mabru.be