Dafgårds now has only two suppliers of local Swedish white cabbage. The company is looking for new suppliers by means of large advertisements in local media. Traditionally, Dafgårds produces the well-known cabbage rolls with minced meat. To that end, local growers have supplied tonnes of white cabbage annually since 1962. Now that Dafgårds is expected to need 1,200 tonnes of white cabbage in the coming year, the company has to start looking for new suppliers, as this is 100 tonnes more than last year.
Local growers are preferred, in part because they know exactly which variety of cabbage is best suited to the cabbage rolls thanks to years of cooperation. One of the two local suppliers is Stockagården. Last year, they supplied 650 tonnes to Dafgårds, for an agreed-upon price, which didn’t take into account unforeseen circumstances, such as the dry weather from last year and increased demand from consumers. Rasegården supplied the remainder of the white cabbage, although they are now uncertain they want to continue the cooperation. “Fifteen years ago, contracts were practically fought over. If Dafgårds were to pay fairer prices, it would probably not be such a problem to find more growers,” says Fredrik Aronsson of Rasegården.
To solve the problem, Dafgårds decided to import part of the white cabbage from Hungary. The disadvantage of this, is that the cabbage first has to be boiled and frozen. The price of the white cabbage supplied to trade has doubled from 0.30 to 0.60 cent, for that matter, which was enough for Stockagården to compensate for the bad harvest.
