"NL: "Lettuce prices at a low for weeks"

The season is almost in full swing. "May and June are mostly the top months for us with a lot of trade," says Robert Van Ooijen of Van Ooijen Vegetable and Fruit Import. He buys products on the Belgian auctions and indicates that vegetable prices currently in general are nothing special (May 1st). "When it comes to peppers, the yellow ones are at €1.15, the red ones at €1.25 and the green ones around 70 to 75 cents. Remarkable is that small peppers are doing better in price. Due to the colder and gray weather the production is lower and small peppers cost 30 to 40 cents per kilo more than their larger counterparts.”

According to Robert, lettuce has not been doing well for some time. "Butterhead lettuce has been at a low for weeks and prices do not exceed 15 cents. This year after the cold in Spain, for a period there has been low production of all types of lettuce. Now there is more than enough. For the special varieties not much is paid. The Lollo Rossa now goes for 30 to 35 cents and Bionda for only 15. They have been doing a lot better earlier."

The eggplant prices have not had many peaks yet. "Currently, between 55 and 60 cents is paid for eggplants of 225 and 300 grams. Courgettes are even much lower, prices range from 10 to 20 cents. We do not hope that they will go the same direction as last year. Then, it was 4-5 cents at a time when the volume was very high."

These two are currently doing better in price than the rest. "Asparagus prices have risen since last week. Friday they were around 5.5 to 6 euros and now it’s 8 euros. It also has to do with the supply on Labor Day (May 1st). There was less supply than last week Friday. Strawberry prices are still high. This weekend they were a little lower, but now it was €1.50 to 2 euros per kilo for the big ones. The little ones were going for €1.20 to €1.30."