Dutch companies doingbusiness in organic produce saw their revenue increase by 11% to 928 million Euro in 2014. Chain organization Bionext mapped the export trends for theministry of Economic Affairs. The chain organization expects the export to exceed1 billion Euro this year. Organic greenhouse vegetables saw the biggestincrease, by over 15% to 50 million Euro. Arend Zeelenberg, advisor at Bionextand the bio trade committee of the GroentenFruit Huis, gives his view on strengthsand bottlenecks of the Dutch organic vegetable sector. Arend, who co-wrote thereport on export trends, says the increase in Sweden has been especiallyspectacular, while there are also opportunities in the United Kingdom.
Arend Zeelenberg gives his opinion about growth opportunities for organic producers.
Strengths
Arend says that theNetherlands is a big player in organic products like spinach, peas and beans inthe European market - quite an achievement for such a small country - thanks toa solid trade network and an infrastructure with short lines of communication.Another positive aspect is the large concentration of growers in certainregions, who can thus learn a lot from each other. Finally, Dutch organicagriculture is also very strong when it comes to technological aspects, such astramline systems and GPS.
Stimulating domestic consumption
Bionext will launch anew three-year campaign to promote organic produce, in order to further promotedemand for organic vegetables, consumption of which is a lot lower than exportin the Netherlands. “It’s important for health food stores to become moreaccessible, and for more space to be reserved for bio products in regularretail. In future, revenue can definitely increase here.” Arend concludes: “Fortunatelywe have some very passionate organic growers and traders. This passion could bejust the stimulus needed for the regular retailer."