“Oversupply of Dutch field crops in carrots and onions”

In previous years it was practically a given that a calmer period started on the carrot market around late May/early June. “Now, this calmer period has already started in March. Prices of Dutch field crop carrot already started going downhill from February, and are currently at a low. There’s talk of a historic low point. Even our parents have never experienced such bad field crop carrot prices from the Netherlands in the March/April period,” says Kris de Kimpe from Kimco. 

According to him, the low prices are mostly caused by the fact that production has been expanded throughout the Netherlands. “In too many countries, areas are increasing every year. There’s now enormous pressure on the European market. This is mostly due to the enormous supply from farmers in the Netherlands. Not that we are blaming the Netherlands, because in the past we needed them when we had shortages. Other European countries also bought from the Netherlands plenty of times, to fill gaps. Now everyone is letting them down, as it were. Our neighbours to the north have a large supply of field crop on the free market, and that is being sold for very low prices. Field crop carrot is four or five times cheaper than cost price there. They are worried they won’t be able to sell their product at all, so they are selling at dumping prices.”

The grower and processor indicates that he is facing the coming years with mixed feelings. “The market appears to be saturated, there’s too much supply. We’re now actually waiting for a disaster or two in one or more production countries. We used to have Russia as a buyer, but of course, we also lost them. I think the situation is comparable to that of the pears, but at least that product can still be exported. It is practically impossible to transport cleaned carrots for more than three weeks, so we’ll probably not get any new markets.” Kimco has tried to export to destinations further away in the past. “There have been shipments to Asian and South American countries. But carrot that’s on the road for five or six weeks and then has to be sold, loses its freshness. It won’t be the fresh carrot we are known for.”

Besides carrot, Kimco also supplies onions, which mostly come from Belgium. “The onion situation is also not entirely rosy. The onion area increases in most European countries every year. The Belgian area increased considerably in recent years. It’s comparable to the carrot situation: We, meaning many European countries, used to really need the Netherlands for carrot and onions.”

How can a supplier of carrots and onions still be distinctive? “It’s becoming more difficult. I think mostly through origin. Retailers and consumers demand domestic product increasingly often. Perhaps that’s the most important reason that expansions are occurring everywhere. The number of storage facilities (cold stores) for carrot and onions has also increased considerably in Europe. Just in Belgium about 30,000 crates (approx. 18,000 tonnes) of cold stores have been added for carrots in recent years.”