The carrot market has gone differently from the expectations in the autumn. "There was talk then of a good demand and people had a higher price in mind than is now being realised. According to Arjan Freriks the market can't be called bad. "We are certainly not negative, as the price is still quite reasonable. But we imagined it to be more positive."
Looking for quality
He continues: "What is striking is that the quality of part of the storage carrots is disappointing. It's a search for good clear carrots without storage spots. Important reasons for the decreasing quality were the different weather conditions during the growing season. This has caused wear during storage and it's all earlier than usual for this time of year. In the coming time the good storage carrot will be scarce, This provides opportunities: the growers with good parties will certainly benefit from this."
He finds it hard to predict the market. "At the moment we're feeling in the dark. It's certainly possible that the demand will pull up and then the situation will look very different. Of course we also don't know what Spain will do. The store of carrots also can't be estimated at the moment. I feel like more was traded at the start of this season than people think, but it's dubious to be 100% sure of this. All in all it's a strange market, but I expect opportunities to appear. It's only April and the season isn't over yet."
