The European pepper-prices have increased significantly. Bad fruit set causes a disappointing production. Growers expect that the supply will be limited until week 28.
The unpredictable pepper season of 2016 has seen a new peak. The limited supply is causing high prices at the moment. At ZON on Friday, the peppers sold for roughly 2 euro; €2.20 for red, €2.70 for green, €1.80 for orange, and €1.85 for yellow. At BelOrta the prices are even higher, for green €2.80, for red €2.10, and for yellow €1.90.
In Spain there are high prices as well. In Murcia the counter showed €1.16 to €1.30 - which is quite alright for a Spanish product. Market analysts expect that the Spanish growers will retrieve everything they can from the greenhouses, which might cause the export season to end earlier. The early start of the season plays a part in this as well, it started 20 days earlier. The Spanish season has been irregular. The past few weeks there was a shortage on the market: with a 30% smaller pepper supply the price was still fine and last week the price was €1.80. The suppliers did harvest a lot of green peppers because the price was good.
There are no more products from Israel on the European market. The growers there produced less volume this year and they had a great season at the local market, at the moment, however, the quality of the products is no longer good enough to be suitable for export. The choice of variety and the heat result in a limited shelf life.
The total pepper export until week 21 is better than last year (figures Fresh Produce Centre)
The Netherlands can finally catch up on the season with prices like this, especially because the orange pepper season was not as good as expected. It is remarkable that there are a lot of customers that purchase large parties in Limburg. "It is not 1 or 2 parties that have a shortage in the program, but it is a general shortage of product."
Twitter picture: The French supermarket Carrefour has chosen for duo-packs with yellow and green peppers. It is said that his is because of a shortage of red peppers from Murcia. This originates from the harvesting of green product because of the good prices for green peppers.
Bad fruit set
The cause of the high prices is the limited availability of the Dutch product. This is caused by the bad fruit set of six weeks ago. The wet and dark weather, combined with low temperatures, resulted in hard growing conditions. Growers expect the next few weeks a limited supply of peppers and an even more limited production.