The Dutch company Jong Fruit announced a strategic partnership with Spanish soft fruit producer Surexport late last year. They want to supply European customers with a year-round assortment of soft fruits.
The greenhouse strawberry season has started in the Netherlands, and Arian de Jong is already seeing positive effects from this move. "We can now deal directly with clients and smoothly transition between the Dutch and Spanish seasons. Buyers clearly demand this, so we responded. It's great to see that the idea behind this move seems to be working," he says.
Jong Fruit has 24 hectares of strawberries under glass, spread across five locations, with Inspire, Elsanta, and Sonata being the main winter varieties. "Currently, there's a strong demand for Dutch strawberries. Many buyers want to start with Dutch produce, and availability is still limited. For us as growers, that's obviously beneficial."
"Prices are higher than expected, with daily trade levels around €10/kg. The dark weather delayed production slightly, but that should take off after Easter. Prices will likely be stable until then. That was quite different in January when winter production was under considerable pressure," Arian explains.
Greenhouse strawberry cultivation in the Netherlands has been on the rise in recent years but has faced several challenges, including the energy crisis. "Everyone wants to stay profitable with different crops, varieties, and planting dates. Remember, labor costs have risen sharply. It remains challenging to keep up with these on the revenue side."
"We have clients all over Europe, with the Netherlands, Scandinavia, Germany, and the United Kingdom as our main markets," says De Jong. "We deliberately want to grow in volume in the coming years. We're, thus, pursuing a build-buy strategy. Growers who want to cultivate strawberries for us are more than welcome since our customers demand more volume."
For now, Jong Fruit is focusing solely on growing strawberries. "We ventured into raspberry and blackberry cultivation, but that didn't turn out as we'd hoped," Arian concludes.
For more information:
Arian de Jong
Jong Fruit
Tel.: +31 (0) 162 314 119
info@jongfruit.eu
www.jongfruit.eu