Belgium’s high-quality fresh produce has long been a favourite with UK consumers, with its spring offer delivering top-quality strawberries, raspberries, lettuce and tomatoes, as well as year-round vegetable crops such as leeks.
This season, although one to two weeks late for some lines, has risen to the challenge and supplied the UK marketplace with the quality it comes to expect. But how has the economic climate affected Belgium’s high-end offer? Has demand subsided as consumers and retailers alike look to tighten their budgets?
Dominiek Keersebilck, commercial manager of Belgian auction REO (Agricultural Auction Market for the Roeselare area), an organisation of more than 1,600 active growers that bring product to market on a daily or weekly basis, does not think this is true for every product. “We deal with a lot of winter vegetables, with leeks being our major offer,” he tells FPJ. “In 2009, we saw a rise of 15-20 per cent in leek volumes going through the auction - a total of 60 million kilos. Our other main crop is glasshouse lettuce.”
The main volume of leeks that finds its way to the UK comes through REO in the first quarter of the year, when English supply is low on the ground. Belgium is the most northern region in Europe to grow leeks in an open-field production system and Roeselare has come to be known for its leek production. “As the summer months approach, demand for leeks from the UK declines; we will move 9mkg of the product a month in the winter through the auction, but when it comes to summer it is more like 2mkg,” says Keersebilck.
Lettuce is produced year round in Belgium, with the early glasshouse crop making the most money in the UK marketplace around Easter. Due to a warm and sunny April period, demand was high and REO moved 4.5mkg of butterhead, lollo rosso, lollo bionda, green oakleaf and baby leaf lettuce types. “The baby leaf market has seen strong growth over the last three years and we have been working closely with our growers to utilise this. We sell ready-to-eat lettuce in 500g bags, as well as almost every lettuce in every weight needed,” says Keersebilck.
The most important offers to the UK over the coming weeks, however, will be the Belgian strawberry and tomato crops -both known for their top quality and flavour. “There has been a small delay in production because of cold nights and the lack of sunshine in the winter,” says Keersebilck. “Everything grew a lot slower, but it has only worked out to be about two weeks late. The last 10 days [from 27 March] have provided excellent conditions for crops; there has been a lot of sunshine and some rain.”
Auction Veiling Borgloon’s soft-fruit quality and production manager Joris Mendens says that the strawberries coming into the auction are good quality, rather than excellent, this year. “The price is up this week for strawberries,” he says. “And in two to three weeks, we will receive larger volumes. Some 80 per cent of the strawberries we sell are Elsanta; this is a good choice for us as the growers produce it well in this country and buyers know how to sell it. Growers are quite conservative, although they do look into other varieties. The main advantage of Elsanta strawberries from Belgium is the taste; the product eats very nicely. We deal with 5mkg of strawberries in season and will harvest from outdoor crops in a few weeks.”
REO also mainly sells Elsanta and sources from growers in its region. The crop, which has just made an appearance on the market, has been grown under glass or in polytunnels, and has seen a 20 per cent increase in volume this year to 8.2mkg. “Growers have increased production as they are getting reasonable money for the crop,” explains Keersebilck. “There is also a better growing capacity and demand is especially strong for Belgian strawberries in Europe. Brands and quality labels like Tomabel and Flandria provide great opportunities on the UK market especially. We expect to have a very successful season.”
One challenge that the Belgian soft-fruit industry has faced this year is the decline in interest in both raspberries and blackberries compared to the demand the products were receiving two years ago. “Volumes and demand continued to increase, but last year it dropped dramatically,” says Mendens. “This year, we will sell fewer blackberries than last year and growers will stop growing the product because the price on the market is not high enough. It is the same in the Netherlands and all over the world. It could be an effect of the recession, but the volume of raspberries grown was just not matching the amount consumed.”
Mendens believes that the next big trend in soft fruit will be gooseberries and redcurrants. “This will be a challenge when it comes to the UK market,” he says. “We will have to be careful and increase consumption slowly and sustainably.”
After a delayed start, deliveries of Belgian tomatoes are now increasing week by week. Flandria auctions offer an extensive range of tomatoes tailored to specific markets, from now until December. “The Flandria tomato season got going this year a few weeks later than usual, because of the grim winter,” says Jan Engelen, commercial and marketing manager at the Hoogstraten auction. “Bad weather and poor production conditions in southern Europe created a shortage on our market. The somewhat slow start here at home, plus growing demand from the US for Belgian tomatoes, affected the market slightly, meaning a knock-on impact on prices.”
Warmer temperatures at the end of March have really given production and demand a boost. “Last year, we saw another 30 per cent expansion in our loose and cluster tomatoes,” says Engelen. “Last year was difficult and we are still a bit cautious with our forecasts. It looks as though the acreage under standard types of tomatoes (loose and cluster) will remain the same this year. Prunella, a plum tomato, both loose and in clusters, is still growing a little. Despite the rather poor prices last summer, we still expect deliveries comparable to last year’s levels for the whole season.”
In deciding which varieties of tomato to consider for the Flandria segments in 2010, the LAVA auctions take the greatest account of the signs from the trade and the results of the taste tests among the consumer panels.
Another substantial offer from Belgium at the moment is mushrooms, but the market has been a tough one, says Keersebilck. “The mushroom market has been very dramatic,” he tells FPJ. “When the economic crisis devalued sterling and the euro became too strong, it was a big blow for many mainland European growers as the UK market is very important, but at the same time the Polish zloty devalued and Polish mushrooms became cheaper for the UK, as well as being nearer to market. Also, eastern European labour is much cheaper and the competition has been felt.”
But changes are afoot in the Belgian industry and fears abound that the traditional regional auction system of trading fruit and vegetables may be dwindling in the same way as it has in the Netherlands. “We still have a true auction selling system, but we have the opportunity more and more to work to contracts,” says Keersebilck. “However, the difference between the Dutch and ourselves is that we still maintain a fair price. Last year, we suffered as an auction and a growers’ group as markets in the Netherlands, and elsewhere, were selling produce at any price just for a sale. Our growers had a tough year; as a region, we are family-orientated and our main vision is to sustain these small family businesses.
“On the other hand, there is an opportunity for the future; the UK market is very concerned with its carbon footprint and climatic issues are important. With our regional production and location in Europe, we are well placed to provide the UK with the low-carbon intensive produce that it wants. We have invested in energy-efficient technology and in that case we want to be an example to our growers. We make sure that the packaging we use is environment-friendly and that most of the produce we sell is sold loose. It is not just a matter of growing the product where looking after the environment is important; it is through the whole chain.”
