BelOrta achieves record product turnover of €439 million

In 2017, BelOrta achieved a product turnover of €439 million, the largest turnover ever achieved by a Belgian auction. This is an increase of 7 per cent compared to product turnover in 2016. The volume sold increased by 2.5 per cent, to 654 million units — 500 million kilograms — of fresh fruit and vegetables. As in so many respects, 2017 was once again a year with many faces. Certain products did well, other products had poorer results.

Supply and demand are two components that make the market price for growers every day. They are often influenced by weather conditions. Not just our weather, but also by the weather abroad. Looking back at 2017, we’ll remember the extreme weather conditions in Spain and Italy in January, among other things, causing shortages of a number of types of lettuce, aubergine and courgettes throughout Europe. Another important factor was the night frost of 20 April, causing significant damages in the production of fruit — both top, stone and soft fruit — all over Europe. Later in the season, records were broken due to the long periods of drought, once again affecting harvests. This made things very difficult for certain types of vegetables such as some lettuce varieties, while other fruits and vegetables enjoyed the sunny conditions. The warm second half of the year resulted in higher productions of leek and cabbage, but also affected consumer behaviour.

With 150 million kilograms, tomatoes continue to be the biggest product for BelOrta undisputedly. The average result achieved is slightly better than last year, but the average price is also influenced by an annually increasing area of illuminated production. After a hesitant start a few years ago, consumers are clearly in favour of these tomatoes because of their freshness, quality and superior flavour compared to product that comes from far. The volume of tomato specialities also increases every year.

Butterhead lettuce and lettuce varieties complete the top three of vegetables with a volume of 65 million units. Other large products are bell pepper, chicory, courgette and aubergine, but with more than 120 types of vegetables, BelOrta growers offer a very extensive assortment, which is unique in the sector.

Despite the difficult growing season (night frost in April, drought in June and July), the volume of pears increased to 70 million kilograms in 2017. That significant volume increase of 15 per cent is a result of an area expansion late in 2016. BelOrta also had a similar area expansion in apples, but as a consequence of the catastrophic night frost, the growers only harvested a quarter of the regular production in autumn. Because of this, annual volume remains at 42 million kilograms, which is similar to 2016. Pricing for apples in the 2017-18 season might be higher than last season, but that doesn’t mean much if production is this much lower.

The production of strawberries will exceed 10 million kilograms for the first time ever, which is an increase of 12 per cent. Other types of soft fruit also had an increase in production, except the types that were much affected by the night frost, such as gooseberry and blueberry. Cherries had low production figures because of this as well.

With 5.5 million units sold, the organic group experienced a careful growth, but the broadening of this assortment is even more remarkable. Traditionally, BelOrta has been very strong in organic outdoor vegetables, but due to recent switching, the top 10 of largest organic products has been significantly rearranged with chicory, cucumber and bell pepper as important newcomers. Because of this, BelOrta meets growing interest in organic fruit and vegetables on local markets.

In 2017, BelOrta had an extensive marketing campaign on the Belgian market for the second time. Besides a campaign to put BelOrta on the map as an important consumer brand for fruit and vegetables, many product campaigns focused on Belgian consumers were also organised. All in all, this led to a name recognition of 43 per cent among Belgian consumers this year.