“This season we didn’t have to deal with real major price plunges. Indeed, on average prices have been 15 to 20 % higher than last year. Naturally, it varied for each grower. The Greenery put a great stake on the green asparagus market, including new packaging. This has been very fruitful, as customers that would have normally purchased green asparagus from Peru, were now choosing the Dutch product.”
“The asparagus season started according to plan. In March, it looked like the season was going to arrive early. From the beginning of April until May, it was relatively cold, resulting in a tardy start of the open ground produce. This has led to higher prices for the early cultivation,” says Sjraar. “From week 19 the outdoor production took off. From that moment, the Dutch customers, convenience suppliers as well as catering wholesalers and retailers, received special offers, as a result of which the available volumes found their way to the consumer.”
“Extremely warm periods didn’t come and consequently we didn’t have any production peaks that are worth mentioning. The price also remained pretty much level after Pentecost and prices increased from week 23 under the influence of demand from Germany in particular. Therefore, the season was in most cases satisfactory, also for the growers with late varieties,” continues Sjraar. “Individual growers indicate that they have cut less on average. As a result of the expansion of the cultivation area the supply for The Greenery has remained reasonably unchanged compared to last year.”
By now, most growers have actually stopped producing. “There are a couple of growers left with land, that won’t be entered in production next year. They will continue for another one or two weeks. Then the season is really over,” Sjraar concludes.