"Netherlands: "Strawberry market stable, volumes declining"

The strawberry market is declining, but there is still a reasonable daily supply at Hoogstraten Auction. "We still had 300 tonnes of produce last week and that will decrease in the coming weeks. Supply will be around ten tonnes in the last weeks of the year," explains commercial manager Jan Engelen. "However, we see that volumes are higher now than they were last year. Price levels have been stable in the last weeks," he continues. "Mid price is 4.5 Euro, and that is including processing. Prices have been mostly low this summer and at the beginning of autumn. Two weeks ago, the market recuperated suddenly and can now be described as sound."

"We only have greenhouse strawberries at the moment and they are primarily exported. The quality is very good and the strawberries are strong. The fact that consumers appreciate growers' information on the packaging is nice. We recently received an e-mail from Spain complimenting us on our beautiful and delicious strawberries. Supermarkets hardly have any interest in strawberries at the moment, there are too many alternatives: top fruit, citrus, grapes, you name it. Therefore, it is hard to keep your spot on the shelves in autumn. The catering industry, bakers and processors are markets that continue with our strawberries.

Jan expects the good market situation to continue for a while. "It is possible we will notice Egypt in days to come, but that hasn't bothered us too much in the last few years. They started earlier this year and it is always testing in the first week, but things will become stable after that. I expect a surge around Christmas, but that is tradition."

For more information:
Jan Engelen
Veiling Hoogstraten
Loenhoutseweg 59
Hoogstraten - België
Tel: +32 3 3400233
Fax: +32 3 3147844
www.veilinghoogstraten.be