"In general terms, this is being a tough time for lettuce marketers," says Othman El Abadi, of Force Sud. The company supplies organic lettuce. “Although we had hoped for better results, organic lettuce hasn't done badly. We perfectly understand why there is hardly any demand for (conventional) lettuce at the moment."
The health crisis is certainly having an impact on sales. “Normally we sell more than 40% of our lettuce to restaurants. The closure of restaurants has resulted in a great lack of demand on their part. We thought the demand for lettuce would increase with the arrival of the holidays, but this is not being the case. Fortunately, our exports are doing well, especially those going to Germany."
Force Sud's lettuce is grown in cold greenhouses near Montpellier. According to Othman, the quality is very good this year. Besides supplying restaurants, Force Sud also markets its products through supermarkets and wholesalers specialized in organic products.
French organic sweet potatoes
The situation in the organic sweet potato market is disappointing. "Our sweet potatoes are grown in France, to be precise, in the Vaucluse. Unfortunately, however, there is a lack of demand. We don't know exactly why."
For more information:
Othman El Abadi
Force Sud
forcesud@forcesud.fr
www.forcesud.fr