The trade in carrots is generally focused on product stored in cold store from the month of December. Expectations for stored carrot are high this year. Processors have stocked up, and growers haven’t sold much. The first because they didn’t want to pay high prices for storage carrot, the second because they want to receive high prices.
“Grubbing up occurred late this season, well into December, and cold stores were filled with product,” says André Louwerse of the commercial enterprise of the same name. “There was practically no rain up to the harvest season. It’s fortunate there was no period of frost in December, so growers could wait before harvesting. Less product was lost because of this. For example, one grower grubbed up two loads mid-October, but after they had been driven into storage, it became clear there was hardly any soil between the carrots. This grower left the remainder of his carrots in the fields until December. If he had harvested everything in October, thousands of tonnes would have been lost because the carrots would have been too weak and damaged.”
Yields are fairly good in irrigated regions, but the question is whether quality of those batches will be good as well. “Irrigation might have ensured higher yields, but heat and irrigation are actually unnatural. A disease such as ring rot, which often occurs in wet years, can now be seen in irrigated carrots in storage. In Belgium and Zeeland, where irrigation barely happened, the carrots soaked up when rain eventually arrived. We don’t yet know the effect this will have either. It’s therefore important to continue to monitor the quality of the carrots.”
Better monitoring due to contract agreements
Quality inspections were started after Christmas. Louwerse Wortelen mediates between roughly 150 Dutch growers, good for 600 hectares, and processors in Belgium and the Netherlands. “Making sure good batches are kept for last mean I’m doing my job well, both towards the grower and the processor. Every year, about 10 to 20 per cent of the batches doesn’t have a good enough quality for long-term storage. It’s therefore important to localise and sell these first. We always take samples of about 10 kilos from a batch and put these in cleaning drums. The clean carrots are placed under lamps to asses quality. When carrots show signs of deterioration, the grower receives photos and an advice to offer this batch. When we don’t see wear and tear, the grower can hold off on selling the batch. It’s then important to take another sample a few weeks later. Quality after processing is always an important matter as well. In that case, it’s an advantage when growers sell part of their carrots under contracts. That way you can offer a shipment consisting of multiple batches to see how the carrots do after processing. That’s my advice to growers, because it’s easier to monitor.”
Wear and tear
André expects the carrots won’t have a very good shelf life this year. It’s uncertain whether product can be stored until May or June. “I see wear and tear in a lot of carrots, and we therefore have to be extra careful this year. Compared to other years, the weather was very different. On average, we get 850 mm of rain, but this year we only got 650 mm. There was a lack of rain throughout Europe, even in Poland. Because of the late rain at the end of the season, quite a bit of volume was saved, but we have to be very strict regarding quality and we take regular samples.” Early in the season, buyers anticipated the extreme weather circumstances by storing up. The price levels were therefore high at the start of the harvest season. Louwerse Wortelen mediates for about 20-25 permanent buyers regarding selling and buying, cold store, transport and seed sales in Belgium and the Netherlands. “Each processor makes sure they have their own stocks. Generally, they buy two-thirds of the necessary amount of carrots in advance, and one-third is bought later. That might not seem like a lot, but added together it still concerns very large amounts. In this situation, processors won’t buy additional product early. Expensive purchases were already made at the start of the harvest season. To not run a risk, they will process batches they don’t trust themselves now. This will ensure the market will be calm in January. But crazy things can happen. Germany has already said they don’t have a lot of stocks either, and large volumes will be shipped from September,” André concludes.
