Erratic, that is the best way to describe the current greenhouse vegetable market, according to Valstar's Jim Westhoff. "We may sell even more than in other years, but you have to take other routes. For example, retail is above average, but the food service is completely closed in certain countries and even now that the measures are being relaxed in many countries, the question remains whether all catering establishments will open with, for example, a halved capacity."
"The peppers are on the good side for the time being, although the price is not even exceptionally high. Normally, the peppers are always good in price until June. Perhaps sales this year towards the Pentecost can get a nice revival," says Jim. "The cucumber price is now at a reasonable level in terms of price formation, but whether this will continue is very much the question. That market is developing so erratically, the price can go up one day and fall sharply the next."
"The price is actually too low across the board for tomatoes. There is too much supply, mainly due to the food service programs that are now entering the daily market. You can now see that with loose tomatoes, for example. We used to export aubergines a lot to the United Kingdom and there you can also see that there is a large share of food service sales on that market. Selling certain contracts on the daily market may not exactly be worthwhile at the moment, but in general I think that Corona's impact on the broad spectrum of the AGF sector is not completely disappointing compared to other industries," Jim concludes.
For more information:
Jim Westhoff
Valstar
2685 DB Poeldijk
T: +31 174 530804
F: +31 174 530888
J.Westhoff@valstar.nl
www.valstar.nl