A multiple week-long period of very low cucumber prices was broken last week. The average price at VBT was above the five-year average again for the first time since early April. The average unit price reached 19.3 euro cents in week 24. The market was secretly counting on this, as demand usually picks up in summer weather.
The considerably more stable price for organic cucumbers has been hovering around 70 euro cents for weeks.
Meanwhile, the average price in tomatoes is flirting with that five-year average. The well above-average prices of recent months have meanwhile disappeared from the auctions affiliated with the Federation of Belgian Horticultural Cooperatives. At 57.7 euro cents per kilo, vine tomatoes are the best paid, although the price for loose tomatoes isn't that much different from the price for vine tomatoes: 54 euro cents.
Pepper prices, however, are still well above the price average. Orange was the best paid last week at 2.58 euros per kilo rounded, followed by red (2.30), yellow (1.82), and green (1.40 rounded).
As in cucumber, the price of head lettuce also rose. In fact, the price doubled in one week to 53.5 euro cents each. The summery weather will have helped, although sunshine does not deliver a price increase in all lettuce segments. The price for oak leaf lettuce in green and red from the greenhouse and lollo bionda from the greenhouse is dropping.
Aubergine prices also fell (slightly), as did green courgettes and strawberries. Last week, the average price here again dropped below the five-year average. The sunshine provided plenty of ripe summer cucumbers and actions. On average, a kilo yielded 2.88 euros. Elsanta was the best paid at 3.25.
All figures can be checked here: www.vlaanderen.be/landbouwcijfers. The VBT average prices for vegetables for week 24 can be checked here. Those for fruit are available here.
