Holland & Belgium
The biggest part of the Dutch growers are currently waiting to harvest their first crops. There are no Dutch aubergines or courgettes on the market yet, but there are cucumbers, bell peppers and tomatoes being harvested from growers with supplemental lighting (lit cultivation).The prices for the Dutch lit cucumbers are poor, the trend of the bad prices from last year seemed into continue in the new year. Also the growers of bell peppers are not receiving fantastic prices at the moment.
The tomato growers, however, are receiving good prices. The average price per kilo for the TOVs at the beginning of week 5 was above 2 Euro, and saw an upward trend over the past days. This is the result of the lesser supply: there is less production coming from Spain, Morocco. This is noteworthy; a few weeks ago the market was saturated with tomatoes Dutch and Spanish tomatoes due to the Russian boycott. There were even Israeli tomatoes on the market."
According to a Belgian trader, none of the Belgian greenhouse growers was complaining. He said that especially the beef tomatoes received top dollar; 2.30 per kilo.
Spain
As a hail storm destroyed 60 hectares and damaged another 400 hectares in Almeria last week, it is expected that more supply and quality problems will affect the Spanish growers the coming weeks. This might have a positive effect on the prices of the greenhouse vegetables in Holland and Spain.The prices for big, wide Spanish courgettes are only increasing; price this week was 2.70 at the auctions. (Calabacin Gordo) The regular thin courgettes received even more; up to three Euro per kilo.
Prices for long English cucumbers are around 80 cents per kg at the auctions.
In terms of the California peppers the prices are not that good, only the yellow ones are higher than an Euro; the yellow pepper receive 1,20 Euro/kg. Reds and greens are around 95 cents per kg in auctions.
The tomatoes however, saw an increase trend in the second part of January This could be an effect of the quality problems due to bad weather. TOV received 1.10 Euro /kg. The Ribbed Beef tomato received 90 cents /kg and plum tomatoes around 80 cents per kilo at the auctions. The average price for tomatoes is now 92 Euro cents per kilo, the highest price in the Spanish campaign so far.
Mexico
The wholesale market is under pressure. Sources told as that the pepper prices from Mexico are also under pressure. Mexico is in full production right now, and a lot of product is on the market.Canada
The Canadian growers are preparing for the new season and waiting till they can pick their first crops. At the moment, there are Canadian cucumbers on the market, as well as some tomatoes and peppers (unlit cultivation). More and more Canadian acreage with cucumbers are coming into production. A few growers did not stop picking in the winter. As the light levels are improving day by day, more cucumbers are entering the market.The Canadian growers are looking back at a good season. They experienced a very cold winter and had to use a lot of natural gas. But due to the cold spell the light levels were very good and the crops started of very well. Another side effect of the cold winter was that the lakes in Ontario were cooler in the summer, and a cool breeze gave a positive effect on the crops in the summer. The plants suffered less stress and a good quality was achieved. This gave the local production a very good position in the market.
Until the middle of February there are no to little Canadian tomatoes available. The growers that have been picking throughout the winter received buoyant prices.