The Belgian greenhouse vegetable season is in full swing at importer/exporter, Fresh Food. During the winter, this Belgian company focuses mainly on imports from Southern Europe and Morocco, but as summer approaches, Belgian products dominate. They market some of these under their 'The Taste of Belgium's Finest' brand. Co-manager Tom Vande Capelle sees Europe-wide demand for Belgian greenhouse vegetables and strawberries.
The company specializes in tomatoes, but the trader sees that these prices are under some pressure. "There are large volumes of tomatoes available, so prices are considerably lower than usual. Fortunately, consumption's high because of the nice weather, so sales are going well. Then, you can still work with these prices. Who knows, maybe production will decrease slightly in the coming weeks, then prices can creep up slightly," begins Tom.
"Erratic prices make bell pepper trading a little trickier." Cucumbers and eggplants have long been in the same situation as tomatoes. Though, these prices seemed to recover a bit last week, says Tom. "Eggplant prices were dismal for a long time," he says.
"But they unexpectedly rebounded somewhat late last week. The same goes for cucumbers. Last year was good, and many growers switched from tomatoes to cucumbers, so a lot was planted. The market was, thus, flooded with supply this season. They were very cheap all season, but prices shot up last week."
"That surprised us a little. I think it's due to higher consumption with these temperatures. Then when you have a little less production with good demand, the prices at the levels cucumbers were, quickly shoot up. They're not expensive, but something like €0.20/€0.25 is much better than the €0.03 to €0.04 we've been working with. It's been terrible," Tom explains.
There is demand from various countries. "There are quite a lot of demand countries throughout Europe in the market. For example, we export plenty to England, Italy, and France. Spain is taking a bit too, especially strawberries, of which many also go to England and France."
"That season's going well, and prices have been good for a while. There's currently slightly less supply, so the strawberries have become pricier again, though there's nothing wrong with €2.20 for 500 grams. Finally, we're awaiting the cherries, but that has yet to explode," Tom concludes.
For more information:
Tom Vande Capelle
Fresh Food
325 Diksmuidsesteenweg
8800, Roeselare, Belgium
Tel: +32 (0) 513 37 700
Email: info@fresh-food.be
Website: www.fresh-food.be