The Spanish greenhouse season started remarkably early. Kees Havenaar of Frutas Luna gives his preview of the season. "Rumours say that there are around 6% more peppers, but divided over all pepper segments. The situation on the tomato market is also difficult. It's all slightly later and we therefore expect a lot of big tomatoes at first, especially size G. Slightly less tomatoes were planted, but that's not surprising considering the dramatic situation for plum tomatoes in recent years."
Kees calls the situation in recent weeks quite rare for September. "Due to the high pepper price in the Netherlands everyone suddenly wanted 'cheaper' Spanish peppers for mixes. This has now become obsolete as a result of the decreasing price in the Netherlands and the good pepper price in Spain. Normally, the yellow pepper goes on auction here for around 50 cents, not 1 Euro. Now the pepper is becoming too expensive for the free trade, so we're standing still again. This has the good effect that we won't have any old produce on the market in a month. The grower can continuing harvesting and that will benefit the quality."
"There are 5% less aubergines. Due to many days of wind in the summer a lot of flowers dropped off and you can now see this in the aubergine harvest. The yields are low and the prices very high, although the price is dropping slightly now," continues Kees. "Cucumbers, of which there are also expected to be 5% less, the 35+ sorting is in shortage. There are enough smaller sizes, but there are a lot of 'yellow' cucumbers in circulation, so the situation isn't really optimal at the moment."
"Courgettes are a drama. There are a few parties here that are spoiling it for the rest, making it impossible to follow along. But hey, everyone has to take care of themselves," concludes Kees. He emphasises that a preview isn't crystal clear. "We shouldn't forget that we are still in September. We always started somewhere in October, but now everything is being pulled through. We are hoping for a cold November, then everything will be okay!"
For more information:
Kees Havenaar
Frutas Luna
Avd. Del Sabinal, 253
04740 Roquetas de Mar
Tel.: 00-34-950-178653
www.frutasluna.com