On July 1 the open ground cultivation of blueberries will start, a day later than last year. "The products look good, we haven't had hail damage. As far as that is concerned we can consider ourselves lucky. Some fellow growers have been mostly hailed, but we slipped through the eye of the needle," says Fred Douven of ABB Trading.
Good demand
He expects to wind up in a good market situation with the new harvest. "Throughout the year I have had the feeling that the demand will be larger than the supply. The price has remained high so far. A few more countries will join us in volume, but I expect the demand to remain good." ABB Trading itself gets products from other countries such as Portugal, Serbia, Romania and Kosovo which are mainly sold abroad. Important buyers are England and the Middle East.
Purely about price
Fred thinks it's a shame so much still has to be exported. "The reason for the large export is that not all Dutch fruit and vegetable buyers choose domestic product. "They do often promote the fact that they have 'own' produce in their assortment, but not all of them. In the end it is often just about price, that's far more important to many retailers than origin. If other countries can offer it cheaper, we have already lost."
The Netherlands has enough
He believes the fact that the decision lies with the growers is hard to influence and it is a continuing development. "You see in various European countries that they rally behind their own products as much as possible. The Netherlands isn't chauvinistic enough when it comes to fruit and vegetables. You sometimes find the weirdest origins in the supermarket when there is often enough production in the Netherlands. And this isn't just the case with blueberries. For growers who work directly with retailers this problem is extremely difficult. They are put under extra pressure to supply it at a certain price, as otherwise they will switch to a different origin that's cheaper. The grower pays the price in the end. This despite the consumer perhaps being willing to pay the ten cents more. But they don't have a choice. They aren't even asked."
For more information:
Fred Douven
ABB Trading B.V
T: +31 6 520 55 496
Fabrieksstraat 6
5961PK - Horst
sales@abbtrading.nl
www.abbtrading.nl