The situation on the soft fruit market is positive despite wintry temperatures. “Demand for blackberries is currently good. We have Dutch greenhouse blackberries from the Victoria variety, and these taste very good. Volumes are a bit behind, and that’s why prices are between €2 and €2.50 per 125 grammes. This is fairly expensive for blackberries,” says Gerrit de Vlieger of Vrijders. “We try to sell the blackberries on flavour, and flavour was often not up too par in recent years. Yet we see the popularity of blackberries increasing. It’s not like raspberries yet, but we see a slight increase every year.”
Strawberries fairly cheap
“Raspberries are also doing well at the moment. We primarily have Portuguese supply, and prices are changeable and dependent on quality,” Gerrit continues. “The blueberry market is congested. Spain and Morocco are in production, and there’s plenty of volume. There are a lot of cheap blueberries on the market, but quality isn’t always great. The Dutch and Belgian strawberries have been fairly cheap for the time of year for about two or three weeks. Prices have now started rising slightly. Demand for strawberries is a bit behind because of the low temperatures. We recently had night temperatures of 0 ºC in Brussels, that doesn’t encourage people to buy strawberries.”
Good prices for green pears
“The Belgian apple is still not doing great. Last year, growers didn’t have the volume, and this year prices are very bad as well. The situation is very bad for the growers, but we have to follow market prices. Prices for green pears are currently good. However, it’s more difficult to sell the slightly riper pears. Yet I think prices for Belgian top fruit should recover near the end of the season. We always have to stay positive,” Gerrit concludes.
For more information:
Gerrit de Vlieger
Vrijders bvba
+32 475 36 61 44
Gerrit.de.vlieger@telenet.be