"Netherlands: "Poor prices, but no abundance of cucumbers"

"Cucumber prices are bad this time of year and have been for ages," says Joop de Hoog of Friskom. "You can pretty much set your watch to the fact that they go down in week 12!” Has there been too much supply? De Hoog doesn’t think so. "There is absolutely no surplus of cucumbers. But the buyers have the upper hand right now.”

According to De Hoog, adding to the problem is the stress among cucumber producers. "Which is something the traders use to their advantage. It is actually amazing that we just let this happen!” Friskom has considered initiating increased cooperation, but it remains difficult: “The NMA is looking over our shoulders.” The NMA being the ‘Dutch Competition Authority’, the competition regulator for the Netherlands.

Is there improvement in the future? Last week, April 15, there was an upward movement in the price and as of late March the first crop rotations are taking place. "In a few weeks it will be about 100 hectares, about 15% of the acreage," De Hoog estimates. "The first fruits of the earliest planting will be harvested by the end of week 16. And with temperatures rising, we should see some solid demand and higher prices as a result. At least, that’s what we all hope.”

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