The cauliflower market seems to be cooling down slowly but surely as summer draws to a close. "Supply has been somewhat volatile in recent weeks. We have really experienced periods of shortages on the market, with prices even rising towards €2.50. Fortunately, everything now seems to be normalizing somewhat," says BelOrta's Benny Cuypers.
"In particular, the heat of early July had an impact on production," he continues. "As a result, supply was considerably lower at the beginning of August, but it seems to have recovered over the past two weeks. Normal conditions have stabilized production somewhat, and supply has improved. This has also caused prices to ease again. Nevertheless, at a good €0.80 to €0.90, they can still be called reasonable."
Demand, coming mainly from the domestic market but also from Germany, also seems to be supporting the market in September. "Last week, this was still a little weaker due to the hot weather, but we see that people are already reaching for cauliflower again. The weather forecast for September looks more favourable for cauliflower consumption. Besides, everyone is getting back into their normal rhythm. School and work start again, and cauliflower returns to the plate. By the way, we see a similar scenario for broccoli. We did experience some scarcity, but that market is also picking up again."
Expensive iceberg lettuce and endive, courgette lower in price
"Lettuce varieties are also fairly expensive," Benny explains. "Because of the difficult growing conditions, the supply of iceberg lettuce, for example, had dropped somewhat in recent weeks. Prices react very quickly to that, which is why they clearly went up last week. The same goes for endive, where we have been seeing good prices all summer. Endive is very sensitive to drought and heat, so supply remained tight all summer and prices were relatively high."
Outdoor courgette, however, seems to be less affected by the challenging conditions. "It is a plant that thrives in heat, so it can handle the weather conditions much better. This has led to good production in recent weeks. Because of that abundant supply, we do see some price pressure, which we are still experiencing at the moment. Demand cannot really keep up, but we are offering outdoor courgettes until mid-October, so perhaps the market can still recover."
Leek volumes increasing slowly
Besides cauliflower, lettuce varieties, and courgettes, the leek market is also starting to pick up at the cooperative. "We worked with young leeks in the summer, of course, but now it is time for traditional leeks again for our grading in late summer and autumn. So far, this is going quite well. Prices are reasonable at the moment, but volumes are still manageable. These will increase in the coming months, but in principle, demand will rise along with them. Again, we see that consumption increases when it gets colder and wetter, so let's hope the market stays nicely balanced. Yields are satisfactory, but in terms of quality, we do see some issues with thrips due to the weather. Still, this is something we often see at this time of year. We are actually in the transition period from summer to autumn for several products."
For more information:
Benny Cuypers
BelOrta
Mechelsesteenweg 120
B-2860 Sint-Katelijne-Waver, Belgium
Tel: +32 (0)15 55 11 11
[email protected]
www.belo rta.be
