Increase prices
The day after the hail destroyed more than 30 hectares of cucumber harvest in Brabant, the prices went up. "The day after they increased even more. The agreements were still standing and the cucumbers have to be delivered. The demand is large and the supply is low, thus the market mechanism starts working,” says René Welles. "Everyone has a certain percentage written in contract. Almost everything that is damaged by the hail had just been planted or was starting to produce."
Of course, one can only guess what the prices would be if there had not been any hail, but the season has not been great so far. "Especially the early plants have produced less than expected. The later the plants were planted, the better the production. The production has been difficult, technically speaking. Producers are tested to the limit this year, and almost everyone is behind in production volume."
Good prices
The prices were good until the day before last. Yesterday the prices dropped 19 to 20 cents. "We have been harvesting more. Everyone who has a greenhouse is producing. And maybe they have been a little bit too expensive in retail, which stagnated the sales. I think, however, that this dip is only for a short time. The weather is improving, so the consumption and demand will increase. We could see this last week, for example, 30°C was forecast for the weekend and the demand increased noticeably." The crop rotation is coming. "They will start with the rotation in the west next week, in the south a week later. The supply will barely be enough and if the demand increases a little bit, the prices will go back to a normal level. It will not be this bad in the rest of this year."
Reversed autumn harvest
Producers also suffer from low prices for tomatoes, so for tomato producers it would be a good option to finish the season producing cucumbers, like a reversed autumn harvest. The first producer has already decided, "I can only say how many autumn tomatoes and cucumbers there will be after I have planted. The market is searching for cucumbers, however; they have to meet their requirements. To source extra cucumbers for the rest of the season is not feasible; they would have to increase the price for every cucumber."
