After last summer’s dry weather, the blueberries are once again small this year, according to grower Sil Moonen of Berryfarm.nl, who grows blueberries in Drenthe and Limburg, and who arrived on the market with the first early varieties at the beginning of the month. “People are quick to assume volumes will be large, but when the berries are a few millimetres smaller, you lose a lot of kilos.”
“I expect the harvest will be finished in the Netherlands and Germany in three to four weeks, due to the good weather. It’s good weather for picking, and the harvest is going well,” Sil continues. He’s currently keeping calm regarding the sales of the berries. “Eastern European countries like Poland, Romania, Ukraine and Serbia are now flooding the market. We can’t and won’t compete with those prices.”
“It’s unpleasant that the larger supermarkets in our country now carry Polish berries. Retailers make a great song and dance about GlobalGAP, PlanetProof, plastic reduction and sustainable entrepreneurship, but if the berries are cheaper abroad, they’ll turn their backs on the Dutch growers,” Sil says. He’s feeling hopeful there’ll be a price recovery later in the season. “Last year, it became better near the end as well. If the Peruvians wait a while longer, it could make up for a lot.”
“The health benefits of the berries are fairly well known on the market, but the expensive price image of blueberries often stops people from buying them. In my opinion, consumers have no idea what growers have to do to get their products on the shelves. You should calculate what a packet of crisps or chocolate bars costs per kilogram. There are plenty of weeks when blueberries don’t cost that much.”
11/07/2019
