Last weekend Hermans Suikermais was present as a stall holder at PMA in New Orleans once again. "An excellent opportunity to meet our American suppliers and Dutch supermarket buyers over the course of two days," says Giel Hermans. The company works with a scout, who goes round the corn on the cob suppliers in Florida. "Not all American growers are GlobalGAP certified and you need those growers to supply the retail. Luckily we have four GlobalGAP certified suppliers in the United States."
The Hermans Suikermais team at the PMA
Corn on the cob is grown pretty much all year round in America, albeit in different states. However there are a few precarious weeks in there and some American growers have outsourced to Mexico to make sure the product is available all year round. "The biggest threat to the cultivation in Florida is the unstable weather. There can be hurricanes and night frost. Last year night frost wiped out a large part of the harvest. Corn can also fall victim to trade wars between the US and Europe."
Senegal
This is why Hermans Suikermais has started importing fresh corn from Senegal this year, where it is more stable. You can rely on being able to harvest exactly 68 days after planting. But the cultivation in Senegal is a lot more expensive. Everything has to be imported, from seeds to fertiliser and all of this costs a lot of money. In the US the market price is controlled. Senegal works based on contracts. We also have it come from all foreign production areas in the original corn leaves. Everything is chopped, cut and packaged here in Kessel."
The consumption of corn on the cob in the US is at a level of around 10 kg per person. This is a lot more than the 60/70 grams the average Dutch buyer consumes, but Giel is positive about the consumption in Holland. "I do expect the consumption to increase further. Sweet flavours are popular. We focus solely on fresh corn, which is slightly sweeter than the frozen corn."
Colours
The corn in the United States is bred fully in the classical way. "Despite the consumption being a lot higher in the US, it remains a relatively small product and it's not worth investing in GM corn. That's a good thing, as customers don't want that," says Giel. "Just like the Dutch customers don't want any other colour than yellow corn. Varieties of corn that are red, black and white with yellow spots are already available. In the US this dual coloured corn already has a market share of around 70%, but the Dutch don't want to give up the yellow corn yet. That's the next step."
For information:
Giel Hermans
Hermans Suikermaïs
Donk 1A
5995 PL Kessel
Tel.: 0031 77 462 93 25
Fax: 0031 77 462 93 26
www.mielies.nl