There is plenty of demand, but due to the cold weather and lack of sunshine hours, the larger volumes of Dutch asparagus are still a while away. "We also still have to do quite a bit of ploughing up and laying foil at our outdoor fields, it has just been too wet for that recently. For Easter, demand will exceed supply," expects asparagus grower Walter Gubbels from Helvoirt.
"And in the coming week, supply will not get much bigger. Cultivation from the mini-tunnels is not yet picking up and cultivation from the greenhouse and the heated outdoor cultivation that is in production will not increase either," the grower continues. "That makes for nice prices. Last week, the price level for asparagus was already above 10-euro. Now we've dropped just below the 10-euro mark, but you can already see demand picking up with Easter in sight and a price rise is bound to happen."
Walter Gubbels
"In addition, we see that Dutch retail wants to go full steam ahead with Dutch asparagus. I feel this is even more so than in other years. Other vegetables are expensive and have limited availability, so all the lights are green for asparagus sales. We just need the weather to cooperate a bit more. The more the sun shines, the more people think about asparagus," Walter says.
He does not fear an overlap later in the season. "Just after Easter, the greenhouse growing is done and the mini-tunnels are just getting going. On the contrary, I foresee less overlap than other years. Outdoor cultivation will be a lot later. But the Dutch acreage overall has also shrunk again, so I expect the market to be well balanced. But how it will actually turn out, we won't know until the end of the season."
Earlier, Aspergekwekerij Gubbels was still investing in the cultivation of green and purple asparagus, but this year the cultivation company has downsized the cultivation of green asparagus compared to previous years. "We are focussing heavily on growing white asparagus, including peeling and packing. That's why the other colours don't fit as well within our company, although I do think there is a market for them."
For more information:
Walter en Ton Gubbels 
Aspergekwekerij Gubbels
Nieuwkuykseweg 7b
5268 LH Helvoirt
Tel. +31 (0) 411-641283
gubbels-asperges@hetnet.nl;
www.gubbels-asperges.nl