Dutch fresh produce company Veiling Zon has officially opened the new white asparagus season, with the company's commercial manager for asparagus Rick Mengers revealing demand is high as the campaign kicks off.
'We had some bad weather last week, so there wasn't much asparagus available and, with the Dutch supermarkets starting to take the product, prices are high for the best asparagus at the start of the season,' he told Eurofruit. 'We're seeing prices of around €62.00-€63.00 for a 5kg carton.'
At a special event on 5 March, Zon promoted its new-season offer by presenting special platters to its top 25 customers, as well as bundles of the vegetable to 100 other key clients.
'This was a wonderful surprise on the first day of spring and a tasty one we will enjoy,' commented Theo Jegerings, responsible for sourcing at Venlo-based Langfruit, which is part of Van Rijn Trading. 'Langfruit has been a customer of Zon's for a long time and that suits us.'
Zon's output is said to be around 1,000-1,200 tonnes per week at present, although Mengers implied that this figure would rise despite some snow and frost expected over the weekend.
The company, which works with 140 growers, will sell white asparagus from warehouse production until around mid- to late-April, when it will switch over to open-field production.
The group produces around a quarter of the Dutch crop and sells the bulk of its white asparagus in the Netherlands itself, but also ships a certain proportion to Germany as well as a small amount to customers in Japan. 'We may even sell some to the UK next year, you never know,' Mengers added.
