The soft fruit supply at the Belgian auctions is still limited, according to Robert van Ooijen, who purchases produce daily for his Dutch customers at the auction at BelOrta and Hoogstraten.
"There are slightly more strawberries coming now, but the other soft fruit is still very limited. The price of strawberries was still above 3 euros last week, but is now between 2.60-2.70 euros. Raspberries are still few and far between. The little bit for the clock was sold yesterday at a nice price of 2.40 euros (125 grams)."
"The vegetable offer is already a bit wider. For instance, more tomatoes are coming in all the time. Today, tomatoes showed a downward trend for the first time. B tomatoes went down to 1.50 euros for the clock, but beef tomatoes, for example, are still pretty good for this time of year with a price of 1.75-1.80 euros. The courgette supply, meanwhile, is coming off a bit, with the price at 32-33 cents for the clock not being overly high. Interestingly, yellow courgettes are currently a lot more expensive in Belgium than in the Netherlands.
"The peppers are also doing well, For next week more red peppers are expected, but that price is still at a nice level at the moment and the yellow and green peppers are also doing very nicely. Aubergines started the season well, but that price is now going down quite fast. All in all, the energy crisis has had an impact on the whole supply. I do have the feeling that this will cause many productions to coincide and that could put the necessary pressure on prices. You can already see this with aubergines, which started off very nicely price-wise, but are now also dropping hard."
"The alternative lettuces such as Lolla Bionda and oak leaf lettuce are remarkably well priced with a level around 1 euro and that is really good money in week 16. Lolla Rosso is slightly cheaper at 80-85 cents. The endive season has also started with nice prices. Only head lettuce and field salad have been lagging behind in price for longer. Romaine lettuce was also very expensive at the beginning of the season, but now larger numbers of these are coming loose and they sold for 'two quarters' before the clock yesterday," Van Ooijen said.
The Belgian auctions remain as popular as ever with Dutch buyers, according to Robert. "Our strength is that we are present at the auctions and can make sure that everything goes perfectly to the customers there with an extra quality check. With that, we meet a need of many Dutch fresh produce companies."
For more information:
Robert van Ooijen
Groenten en fruit import van Ooijen B.V.
Linnenstraat 3
2988 XL Ridderkerk - Nederland
Auction: +32 15565531
Mobile: +31 (0)6 51 54 59 98
robert@vanooijenbv.nl
www.vanooijenbv.nl