The weather is considerably affecting chili supplies. "The hot weather in June, followed by the dark, cold weather, means the settings are very disappointing. The last few weeks of productions have thus also been dismal, leading to sky-rocketing prices," begins Arjen Bouma of Gilad Produce in the Netherlands.
"Red chili prices are, in fact, reaching never-before-seen levels in August. And those high prices apply across the board. Except for Habaneros, where there has been more price pressure after acreage expansion and a quite-long import season."
"In other years, some Spanish chilis were on the market in summer. But that country's summer crops aren't doing well due to the heat. Supplies are, thus, very tight. There was a fairly consistent supply of early, heated crops, but the cold crop supply fluctuated significantly. However, given the weather conditions, volumes should slowly increase next week. There's a huge demand for chilies, both from our usual markets like Scandinavia, the United Kingdom, and Germany, as well as Eastern Europe," says Arjen.
"Chili consumption does nothing but rise, partly due to their frequent inclusion in fresh packs. And customers stay genuinely loyal to the Chili Festival and Black Bullet brands, which we carry for the colored and the dark Jalapeno chilies, respectively. The great thing is that with our grower in Spain, we can supply our clients year-round with the same quality under our own brands. We expect the first supply from that grower in October."
The year is going well for mini cucumbers too, which Gilad Produce offer under its Cuckies label. "The season started well price-wise," says Frank Mosterd. "Those were somewhat lower for a while but improved in the last six weeks. We've expanded our acreage slightly, but that hasn't detrimentally affected sales. Our mini cucumbers sell very well, again, because many buyers return for our brand."
"Mini cucumber supplies fluctuate greatly too. The few dark days hugely affected especially these crops. We'll restart our Spanish cultivation in November. Also, we're exploring with our Dutch grower whether we'll put two hectares of mini cucumbers under lights this winter. The mini cucumbers market was excellent the last two winters, but we're still looking for the right marketing partner to see if we can reach a profitable lit crop," Frank concludes.
For more information:
Frank Mosterd
Gilad Produce
Tel.: +31 (0) 174 528 067
Mob.: +31 (0) 622 556 700
Email: [email protected] / [email protected]
www.giladproduce.nl
