There is not much to laugh about for the Dutch cucumber growers. This is what Joop de Hoog of cucumber growers association Friskom from Delfgauw says. "We started the season reasonably positive. Prices were not too good for the early growers during the first weeks, but after that they were higher than the prices in 2011 up to a week before Easter. But then one still talks about prices below cost. It is a pity that after a reasonably positive start this year prices decreased considerably. And still we lose every week." According to Joop in 2011 the average price of size forty was 28 cents in week 16 to 18 inclusive.
The head start the growers had this year has, according to de Hoog, disappeared like snow in summer. When asked why prices are so bad he has various answers. "Of course everybody wants to know why it is going so badly. It is a structural problem, so much I know. The cucumbers are first class for the supermarkets, they satisfy all requirements. But if the supermarket finds the same cucumber one cent cheaper somewhere else, then they jump at it."
According to Joop it is striking that this year the difference in price with the German cucumbers is getting smaller all the time. "Also around week16 there was some supply from Spain. But in my opinion that is not the villain. That supply has always been there. I also do not think that the Spanish growers will continue to send their product to our country at below cost. That will stop for them as well."
Therefore it is not easy to keep the Dutch growers happy. "We will have to wait till the end of the season to know what the prices did bring. An improvement is really necessary, because in addition to lower yields we also have higher costs. And then I do not even talk about the continually increasing prices of gas during the coming years. It has never been so dark!"