According to Jim Westhoff of Valstar, the Dutch greenhouse vegetable season has been going pretty slow in recent months. "It is just very quiet. Many destination countries have local produce available, so the demand must mainly come from the German and English markets. Normally Spain is quite a good customer in the summer, particularly for tomatoes, but because of the lack of tourists they are hardly on the market this year. "
"The market for tomatoes in particular can be described as dramatic. During the hoarding weeks sales were still going fast, but then it slowed down quite quickly. Then when ten to fifteen trucks can't join the programmes to England and end up on the day to day market, you can imagine the effect," the seller notes. "Throughout the summer, the tomatoes on the vine and round tomatoes have not yet been above cost price. Now the supply is decreasing, but because the channels in Europe are full, it is still difficult to achieve a price increase. But since the supply has been very high in recent weeks, there must be a correction in the near future. "
"After a dramatic first half of the season, the sales of cucumbers are going reasonably well again. It could be a bit higher, but in any case we are above cost price level again and if we maintain that, we will hopefully end up with a fairly average year, but the market is and will remain fragile," said Jim. "Sales of peppers have been going well so far and this market has not been very bad in terms of price. We will now enter a somewhat more difficult period when the first Spanish produce is on the market. In addition, there are now some more small sizes on the market. market and that creates a somewhat larger price difference between the small and large sizes. "
According to the seller, the sales of aubergines went very poorly until August. Normally the aubergines become a bit more expensive during this period and now they are realising a somewhat higher price, but that is also badly needed. But on the aubergine market the first Spanish produce is already being reported, so hopefully it won't be the case that large volumes will soon be sent this way for open prices! "
For more information:
Valstar 
2685 DB Poeldijk
T: +31 174 530804
F: +31 174 530888
J.Westhoff@valstar.nl
www.valstar.nl