According to a survey of over 550 growers of vegetables, flowers and plants, four out of ten entrepreneurs in Dutch horticulture say the economic position of their business has deteriorated in the last year. Among the determining factors are the high energy costs. Nevertheless, nearly two-thirds of entrepreneurs have confidence in the future of the company. The survey was conducted by LTO Glaskracht Netherlands.
Over 30 percent of LLTB, ZLTO and LTO members participated in the survey. 42% of these indicates that the economic position of their company has worsened in 2013. 44% of the producers stated that revenues are lower than last year’s. Rising energy costs, according to the survey, have the most impact: 75% of companies have said to be affected.
Of the flower growers, 56% expects to achieve positive returns this year. This is slightly higher than with the growers of greenhouse vegetables (53%) and potted plant (52%). It is striking that 15% of the flower growers expects a significantly negative return. The differences in yield between businesses and crops would therefore seem to be bigger. One third of the respondents needs additional investments or overdraft credit, which is about the same as last year.
Most, though, are relatively positive about the future. Two thirds of entrepreneurs have confidence in the future of the company. Almost half of the businesses announced on-going investments. This applies in particular to replacement investments, energy saving and energy innovations. Investments in energy (such as the construction of energy screens) are important for the future of the company.