Last week, the first strawberries of the season were sold at the Belgian auction of Hoogstraten, marking an “unusually early” start to the season, according to marketing manager Jan Engelen.
This first available variety is the Clery, which will be followed by Sonata, Darselect and Elsanta.
Last year, the Hoogstraten auction marketed a total of 25,500 tonnes of strawberries and, according to Mr Engelen, a similar volume is expected.
