“The old carrot harvest is as good as over, but it has been a season to quickly forget. Although the quality of the carrots was good this year, the kilos were not there. The dry summer and the very wet harvest were not a good combination for the carrots. As a result, prices were relatively high," says Alexander Verduyn of the company of the same name. “The demand has been quite irregular throughout the season, especially during the start of the corona crisis. The question really consisted of peaks and dips. The market has now calmed down, but that is typical of this period. ”
Nicolas Verduyn, Marleen Plasman and Alexander Verduyn
The market is currently calming down not only for carrots, but also for white cabbage, celeriac and leek. “Leek did very well during the hamster weeks, but demand has now fallen, putting pressure on the price. June and July are the leave months, making it traditionally quieter for our products. In these months there is more demand for greenhouse vegetables such as tomato and bell pepper. Still, it may be a bit busier this year for open field vegetables. Fewer people will be going on summer holidays this year, which means that home consumption may increase. It remains to be seen whether this will indeed happen,” says Alexander.
“One of the things we need to keep a close eye on at the moment is the drought we are dealing with. If we look at the sown carrots, we see that many seeds have not germinated and some have even dried up. The drought has already had a huge impact. We will certainly have less yield this year despite the fact that 90% of our carrots can be irrigated. Other products such as celeriac, broccoli and other open field vegetables will also suffer from the drought. The south of Europe, on the other hand, is again suffering from water damage from heavy rainfall. Damage due to drought can recover to a certain extent, but that is not possible with water damage. It is clear that we are not going to have large surpluses this year,” Verduyn concludes.
For more information:
Alexander Verduyn
Verduyn
Galgestraat 9
8610 Kortemark
Belgium
+32 (0) 5157 00 56
info@verduyn.be
www.verduyn.be