Primeur sales of Belgian cucumbers

Winter has barely hit Flanders and yet spring is in the air at the REO Veiling in Roeselare. Friday the 13th, was the date of the start of the Belgian Primeur cucumber sales, which is the fixed start of the spring cultivation. The first Belgian cucumbers of the cultivation season 2012 were auctioned off for €8 a piece. They were sold on a joint product clock for the first time ever. The Mechelse Veilingen from Sint-Katelijne-Waver and the REO Veiling from Roeselare collaborate closely for this. This way both companies can supply a concentrated supply to the market. This is a clear signal that collaboration is the answer to the challenges that the whole sector faces.

Producer Nico Perneel from Oostnieuwekerke (West-Flanders) took care of the Belgian primeur sales. The young dynamic cucumber grower succeeded in doing this for the third year running. "I managed four times to put the national primeur sales in my name. It's becoming a family tradition that my son Nico upholds with pride", jokes father Michiel Perneel. His son Nico grows only cucumbers in greenhouses on over 7 hectares. Nico Perneel supplied the REO Veiling with one box today, or twelve Belgian primeur cucumbers with the +350 Flandria quality. Impex Heemskerk from Holland bought the box and clocked the dozen cucumbers for an auction price of €8 a piece. The wholesaler from Venlo is specialised in buying Belgian products for export to Germany and supplying wholesalers near Venlo.

"The permanent supply of Belgian cucumbers from the new growing season will the start next week", says father Michiel Perneel. "The winter cultivation usually finishes around April. The first peak is usually around May. Today's primeur supply was ten days earlier than in 2011. We've done nothing special before that. The cucumbers were planted on the 9th of December and grown with our sustainable standard growing system, without extra lighting or anything else special. The primeur cucumbers grew slowly and that's why they taste as good as ever. In the summer there are usually around 17 to 20 days between planting and picking. In the winter it's over a month. So there was a slightly impatient countdown to the primeur sales. But the light weather helped us along a little. Cucumbers like bright conditions and we've had a good number of clear days in the past few weeks."

At the REO Veiling last year 22.5 million cucumbers were supplied. That's 3 million more than in 2010 and double the amount of 2008. The supply is highest from May to September. Besides West-Flanders a lot of cucumbers are also grown near the Mechelse Veilingen. The Mechelse Veilingen trade a volume of cucumbers a year that pretty much matches that of REO Veilingen. Besides this Mechelse Veilingen also trades a large number of cucumbers of Dutch origin.

The two leading horticulture auctions for cucumbers have been collaborating closely since the cultivation season of 2012 to put the product on the market. To be able to serve the customers of Mechelse Veilingen and the REO Veiling even better at home and abroad, from this season cucumbers from both locations will be supplied in one concentrated supply to the market. This means that the two horticulture auctions will bundle their strength by auctioning the supply of cucumbers off on one product clock. Its immediately possible to see that buyers buy cucumbers from both location at once. With this united supply both horticulture auctions put a strong, good quality, cucumber block in the market. This new system for close collaboration was used for the first time today during the Belgian primeur sales. Because the commercialising of the primeur cucumbers was sent from the Mechelse Veilingen, whilst the product was physically present at the REO Veiling. After a difficult year for the whole horticulture sector the collaboration between two large production organisations is a clear signal that producers want to bundle their powers. "This gives us more possibilities in the market", says Jos van Dessel, manager of the Mechelse Veilingen.