After a very busy summer, the Belgian strawberry market has come to a standstill since last week. "We had one of the best summers in ages, but now everything has completely stopped. Demand has dropped entirely. The export market is performing a bit better, I notice. That remains somewhat more stable, but in the local market, sales have almost fallen to zero. Besides the colder weather, it is partly due to the strong price fluctuations, and that remains frustrating," said Thiry's Guy Van Leene.
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It is a frustration the trader at the Flemish wholesaler, part of Primamundo, has voiced before. "We are seeing huge price fluctuations these days, which are far from ideal for trading. To give an example, last week I heard that strawberries went up to six euros per tray at one point. At that price, many buyers simply pull out. Then the price drops again to three euros or less, but by then you can't get sales going again."
"There really should be a more stable purchase price," Guy continues. "As long as everything goes through the auction, these fluctuations will remain. As a result, sales are now at a complete standstill. This isn't only the case for us; generally, I see that the Belgian trade is struggling at the moment. Many of our competitors are hardly buying anything. Prices have become too high, and when that happens, sales just stop. And once they stop, it's hard to get them moving again."
Nevertheless, the wholesaler continues to supply strawberries during the winter. "We have strawberries within the group all year round. We can't afford to be completely without them, but in winter, we're talking about very small volumes. Mass sales are over by then, but we always keep some available anyway."
Good summer
That contrast is particularly striking to the trader after an exceptionally good summer, he notes. "We've had one of the best seasons in a long time. It's been years since we've had such consistently good weather. And everyone knows: The weather plays a huge role in strawberry sales. We clearly had higher volumes, but demand kept up just fine. Prices also remained fairly stable, around three euros per punnet, sometimes a bit less. We rarely went below one and a half euros. Those are good prices, so most growers can be satisfied. Growers with everbearing varieties have done especially well this year; their production costs are much lower than, for example, Elsanta or Sonsation. Those are the winners this season."
Guy is therefore slowly but surely seeing a shift toward everbearers, which he believes represent the future. "The Elsanta variety is declining in quality every year. It seems a bit worn out. The plants are replanted annually, and you can see that the fruits are no longer nicely rounded, often a bit misshapen. You rarely find really nice batches anymore. I suspect that everbearing cultivation is the future. The flavour is a bit less and the fruit sometimes a bit firmer, but I still think that's where the future lies for many, unless another strong new variety comes onto the market. A few new varieties are being tested, though. I saw one of those trials recently, and it looked promising, nicely shaped fruit, good quality. But that's still in the testing phase, so it'll be another year or two before it really reaches the market."
For more information:
Guy Van Leene
Thiry Ghent
Brugse Steenweg 7/40 magazijn 25
9940 Evergem, Belgium
Tel: +32 (0) 9 222 57 11
[email protected]
www.primamundo.com
