While many Dutch people look forward to sunny spring weather, in the outdoor vegetable trade, it often has a downside. "For sales, nice weather is never very favorable because everything tends to slow down significantly," observes Mike Glas of Glas-Groenten from Broek op Langedijk. Nevertheless, he looks back with satisfaction at recent sales of sprouts and kale, among other products. "In terms of quality, we had a good season. However, sales were highly inconsistent, with remarkably little pattern to them this year."
Mike is currently sourcing most of his kale from Spain. "But due to the bad weather in southern Spain, that supply has also decreased significantly. However, the same applies to sales. Exports are very slow at the moment. Additionally, fixed costs in Spain have risen sharply, particularly labor costs," says the outdoor vegetable trader, who supplies Spanish kale to shops and exporters from February to the end of June. "For example, we supply kale on ice via exporters to destinations like Dubai every year."
Kale on ice
"The Dutch Brussels sprouts season is nearly finished. We are selling the last of the Dutch crop this week and will then continue with British and Scottish sprouts for a while through a fellow grower. Morocco is also about to start again, but that is not our market," says Mike. "Brussels sprouts sales are not particularly strong at the moment, and with the holidays and Carnival, some supermarkets have even stopped offering them."
One product that traditionally sees good demand during this period is wax carrots. "Carrot packing is starting up again now. Sales always dip a bit in winter but will hopefully pick up again. We are already seeing demand for various packaging options. There is a lot of wax carrot available, and prices are not too high, so there are plenty of promotional opportunities," says Mike.
"Beyond that, we are busy year-round with cabbage sales, including pointed cabbage, white cabbage, and red cabbage. This year, sizing has been tricky. Due to the challenging growing season, cabbages are either quite small or quite large, with fewer intermediate sizes available. That has been an issue," Mike observes. "Celeriac sales are also going well. The same goes for beetroot, though that is one of those products with consistently stable demand."
For more information:
Mike Glas
Glas Groenten
Dulleweg 36
1721 PM Broek op Langedijk
Tel: +31 (0)226 313 981
[email protected]
www.glas-groenten.nl
