It's pretty normal to have lower prices at certain points in the season, but this time is seems to be going on for a while with strawberries. The season kicked off with good prices but this didn't last long. "It was going well until the end of May but it continued to worsen after that. There was a noticeable small revival in July but, in general, the season has been dramatic. Many growers are pulling their hair out," says Rudi Peters from the Belgian Fruit Auction.
"I have never experienced any thing like this in my whole career," he continues. "The middle prices are really disappointing. The EVT's are currently fetching a maximum of one Euro and that is for the very best which is a small percentage. For carriers such as Portola and Charlotte, the prices are not reaching more than 55/60 cents for 500 grams."
Many causes
According to him there are many reasons as to why this season is disappointing. "We have a lot of outdoor strawberries and the weather has not always cooperated. Very disappointing for the growers. Alongside that, Belgium supplies around 200 to 400 tons of strawberries and there are less to go out for export. The production in our neighbouring countries is continually becoming larger. An example is England where a lot was supplied to in the past, who are now looking into the export market. We can not continue to send everything to Scandinavia and Russia, these countries eventually will have enough. Alongside that, it is more difficult to supply due to the lessened quality. There are too many strawberries in Europe. Other reasons for the difficult season is the crisis and the large supply of other fruit. It is a combination of many factors."What is going to happen next is also not clear for Rudi. "Of course we are hoping that it will improve. It is becoming increasingly difficult for growers and eventually they will not know what to do. We are waiting for recovery."
For more information:
Belgische Fruitveiling
Rudi Peters
Montenakenweg 82
3800 Sint-Truiden - Belgium
T: +32 (0)11 69 34 11
F: +32 (0)11 68 54 60
www.bfv.be