You cannot compare Polish bell pepper farming to high-tech cultivation in the Netherlands. Unlike tomatoes, which Poland grows in glass greenhouses, most bell pepper cultivation is still done in plastic tunnel greenhouses. "There have been trials over the years with bell peppers grown in glass greenhouses, but that's not caught on," says Marek Knop, account manager at the Dutch company StC International.
That does not take away from the fact that there are decent volumes of Polish bell peppers. "We do all our export for our Polish grower/partner Piotr Malek, and he has considerable volumes. He sends 8 to 12 trucks per day in total to Polish supermarkets and for export to us. In recent years, we've carried Polish premium bell peppers under our own brand Qrown, for these peppers, they cut the stem to select better peppers. We also work with the brand Agro- Malek. Those peppers are harvested by hand, and they pull it off from the plant so you can find some broken stems. Also, there can be some misshaped goods. Quality is still very good and most of the clients, supermarkets accept it without any comments.
The Polish green bell pepper season usually begins in mid-June, with red and yellow following a month later. Orange bell pepper cultivation is very limited in Poland. "Poland's bell pepper acreage covers about 600 hectares in total, with the vast majority of these being grown in the Radom region," Marek explains. "Around the 2.000 growers are producing 40.000 ton/season.
In Poland, the bell pepper season usually runs until late October. "Our volumes increase annually, and we sell Polish bell peppers to supermarkets throughout Europe, including Romania, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Portugal, and Italy. We send full trucks everywhere. Polish bell peppers are far cheaper than Dutch ones, which interests many customers. They're also a great alternative when there are shortages or Dutch bell peppers are very pricey. Polish bell peppers have an excellent shelf life too."
"This year, there aren't that many Dutch bell peppers which means there's good demand for the Polish product. Along with the block peppers, we also increasingly carry specialties like chilies, Jalapeno peppers, and, to a lesser extent, Sweet Palermo peppers. That definitely offers further growth potential," Marek concludes.
For more information:
Marek Knop
StC International
2B Vijverberglaan, 2675 LC
Honselersdijk, the Netherlands
Tel.: +31 (0) 174 752 953
Mob.: +48 668 331 110
Email: marek@stcint.eu
www.stcint.eu