Joop de Hoog of Dutch growers association Friskom is cautiously optimistic about this year’s cucumber season. “It hasn’t been bad so far, although growers have had to deal with rising costs.”
The selling price for the 40'ers was at 17 cents early this week, 35’ers were at around 14 cents. Later on, prices climbed to 20-22 cents and 15-18 cents respectively. "The free market was a little better fortunately," says De Hoog. "The season has been reasonable. Revenues have been higher, and some growers are actually seeing a slight profit. The costs, though, have been higher as well.” Three quarters of these can be chalked up to higher energy consumption, as well as a higher energy price. Growers in other sectors have reported the same thing.
As far as De Hoog knows, there are no signs of growers switching from tomatoes to cucumbers. “Switching to cucumbers isn’t easy, it takes a completely different mind-set, as well as a different type of cultivation. I don’t see any mass migrations going on next season.”