Netherlands: Ten percent of vegetable growers will not make it

Financially it is not going so well, especially for a lot of greenhouse vegetables growers. In fact, it is so bad that 10% of growers will not be able to make it this year, reported a representative from the Dutch Rabobank to the Limburg Daily (Dagblad de Limburger).

The greenhouse situation is being written about in the newspapers. A few tens of companies in Limburg in the greenhouse sector and a few hundred gardeners in the rest of the country believe they will not make it this year. According to Jorrit Dekkers, the sector manager of greenhouses, is it harder this year than in previous years. This year there have been many bankruptcies and companies that can no longer get loans from the bank.

Nico van Ruiten from LTO the Netherlands confirmed the numbers today in the Telegraaf. According to him there have not been this many problems in greenhouses for twenty years. The high yield makes the supply large and this puts pressure on the prices. The oversupply can be the last straw for companies that were already not doing so well, thinks LTO.

In a market with such a high supply, individual growers can easily be pushed out by domestic and foreign supermarket chains, says the association. "For the retail sector it is very simple to request multiple quotes."

This year the banks bought out nine greenhouse companies. These will then be broken down. Specialists at Rabobank have told the newspaper that they see 'insufficient prospects for different entrepreneurs,'

Publication date: Thu 17 Jul 2014