Veiling Hoogstraten is mainly known as the strawberry auction in Belgium. And rightly so, with half of the revenue being raised by strawberries, but they aren’t the biggest product in terms of volume. Tomatoes take top spot there, with 85,000 tonnes. Jan Engelen talks about the products that make up the other half of the revenue, but doesn’t completely ignore the strawberries.
“We’re really an atypical auction,” Jan says. “This year we’ve had a record turnover of more than 200 million Euro, which we mainly get from strawberries, tomatoes and bell peppers. When you compare that with the revenue of other Belgian fruit and vegetable cooperatives, that have a much wider product range, that’s saying something.”
Besides tomatoes, large volumes of bell peppers and cucumbers are also supplied in Hoogstraten, namely 29,000 tonnes of bell peppers and 6 million cucumbers. To compare: on an annual basis, around 33,000 tonnes of strawberries are auctioned. “In that respect, we are more of a typical vegetable auction,” Jan says.
Rise specialties takes pressure off the market
“We’re seeing a significant growth in the supply of tomatoes,” Jan continues. “On the one hand, that’s because the acreage is growing, but the most important cause is illuminated cultivation. That means although the acreage isn’t getting bigger, harvesting is done year-round in the same greenhouse. We’re also seeing a trend of growers switching to cultivation of specialties, both in conventional and illuminated cultivation.” The rise of the specialties takes some pressure off the market. “The yield per square metre for a specialty is lower,” Jan explains. While vine tomatoes have a yield between sixty and seventy kilos per square metre, to most specialties half that yield applies. “In general, 2015 was a good year for tomatoes. We do notice some pressure from the Spanish tomatoes, but generally speaking it’s a good year.” For next year, 160 hectares of tomatoes are linked to Veiling Hoogstraten. 70 hectares of those are specialties.
Specialties on the rise
“Twelve years ago, we carefully started with the specialties. I can safely say we were true pioneers then. BelOrta and REO followed later, they have a similar acreage nowadays. The segment has grown strongly, especially in recent years.” The specialties are marketed under the Specialty Street label. Specialty Street is an umbrella brand that was introduced by Veiling Hoogstraten in 2006, and has been a part of Flandria as a brand name since 2007. The label is also used by other Belgian auctions. At Veiling Hoogstraten, about twenty products are offered under the label, mainly tomatoes. “Frontrunners within the specialty segment are: Cherrystar, Bellino, plum tomatoes and the colour mix,” Jan says. “The increase in this segment is also due to the consumer being more concerned with health and healthy snacks.”
Retail uses the special tomatoes as a means to distinguish themselves from competitors. “Some supermarkets opt for exclusive products. We’re seeing the real hard discounters also carrying a sizeable range. That doesn’t immediately fit into the idea you have of those supermarkets, but it seems these chains have also found their place in the market.” Although the specialties are clearly on the rise, another trend is also visible: supermarkets increasingly opt for a smaller number of specialties that are included permanently in the product range, instead of a full range of specialties. “We’re seeing that some specialties are getting quite big. Others remain a niche, but that doesn’t matter.”
