In recent years, innovations in the Dutch salad sector have attracted a fanfare and boosted demand among UK consumers. During the January to June 2008 period, Dutch pepper, tomato and aubergine exports to the UK rose. Fresh fruit and vegetable (excluding onions) shipments from the Netherlands to the UK increased by five per cent to 1.11 million tonnes, compared with the same period in 2007, says the Dutch horticultural board Productschap Tuinbouw.
The Netherlands is also increasing its volumes to other key markets, including Russia, Belgium and France.
Some of this success can be attributed to the sector’s recent innovations and initiatives. However, while more innovations are planned for this year, a number of producers are quick to point out that, given the challenging economic climate, this year may be a time of caution.
According to The Greenery, this year’s Dutch salad season began a week later compared to the same period in 2008. “The light levels were a bit disappointing in the last half of February,” says Hans Verwegen, market analyst at The Greenery. “Although we have already seen the arrival of the first tomatoes and peppers from our growers, we expect supply to really take off by the end of March or the beginning of April.”
The Greenery is forecasting a slight increase in its pepper and tomato production this year. “The acreage of our pepper growers has increased again this year,” Verwegen tells FPJ. “Some of our tomato growers have switched to varieties that have higher yields, which also partly explains the increase in volume. This is in line with changing consumer demand.”
The Rainbow Growers Group began its salad season with green peppers and green chillies, grown under light in weeks five and nine. These were followed by Rainbow’s first harvest of aubergines in week nine. The group began handling its first cucumbers at the start of March and its first crops of red, yellow and orange peppers are expected in weeks 12 to 14. Vine tomatoes are expected in week 12.
“Over the last few months, light levels have been low and we hope we will have more hours of sunshine in the coming period,” said communications manager Ingrid van der Voort in late February.
Rainbow Growers is on course to increase its salad production area to 125 hectares this year, from 99ha in 2008. “We expect that our products will find their way to our regular clients and to new clients in countries that we have not been doing business with before,” Van der Voort tells FPJ.
Rainbow’s Vitamini’s snack vegetables, which won the Fruit Logistica Innovation Award in 2007, are mainly being sold to Dutch catering companies and retailers. Internationally, Van der Voort says German retailers are the biggest customers of the range, which consists of cocktail cucumbers, sweet snack peppers and cherry honey tomatoes.
The group is also hoping that the UK will show some interest in the snack line. “We offer all our international clients our snack vegetables and we hope to get some orders from the UK this season too,” says Van der Voort.
Rainbow Growers is one of three Dutch companies involved in Thanet Earth, in Kent, and Van der Voort says the UK market will be served from the large-scale greenhouses. Thanet Earth Marketing Ltd, a joint venture company between the grower companies and Fresca Group, will undertake marketing and sales.
The first-ever vegetables to be grown at Thanet Earth went on sale in the first week of March, ahead of the expected arrival date of mid-April.
Meanwhile, Dutch producers have enjoyed success with a number of pepper innovations. This season, Rainbow Growers will be introducing limited volumes of orange pointed peppers. “For the next three years, we will be the only producer in the whole world who grows this orange variety,” says Van der Voort. “This year, we will still have limited production and we will sell them to one exclusive client. We can also offer retailers a sample.”
One of Rainbow’s producers is also experimenting with growing carbon-neutral red peppers, which are grown on 10ha. The first crop is forecast to come on stream in mid-March.
It is early days, but Dutch seed breeder Enza Zaden is confident its Sweetgreen pepper will attract significant attention, both in the UK and overseas. The variety scooped Fruit Logistica’s Innovation Award in February and came about after 20 years of breeding work, according to the company’s Andrew Beeston.
“The Sweetgreen pepper is the world’s first sweet, green pepper and contains 30 per cent more vitamin C than conventional green peppers,” he says. “It has a better shelf life than conventional green peppers and slightly more sweetness than red, yellow and orange peppers.”
When Sweetgreen is fully mature, it changes colour slightly and has a bronze tint so growers and consumers will know that it is a sweet, not immature pepper.
Enza Zaden has plans to conduct small-scale commercial launches in the UK this year and, if there is a good response, there are plans to scale up production,
Beeston tells FPJ. Currently, production is limited to 5,000sqm in the Netherlands.
The Sweetgreen pepper has already seen significant interest from buyers and producers in Germany, as well as the Middle East. “A number of companies have shown interest in roadfreighting the Sweetgreen pepper, rather than using airfreight, due to the fact there is no colour break, as in conventional green,” Beeston says.
In terms of tomatoes, The Greenery has begun marketing the Tomatoberry. “Our UK panel tests have shown promising results and participants were very excited with the sweet taste of the small, berry-like tomatoes,” says Verwegen. He adds that demand for snack tomatoes such as Santa is also rising, while new packaging has proven successful and could be interesting for the UK convenience store sector.
Dutch producers are also hoping for market gains in cucumbers this season. The sector endured poor light levels in February, but the entry of Dutch cucumbers onto the UK market relieved some of the pressure. Earlier in the year, unseasonably low temperatures in Spain meant that the UK was short of cucumbers for at least six weeks, with cucumbers selling for more than £1.40 at retail level.
As Dutch cucumbers arrived on the scene in mid-February, retail prices came down to around £1.20 per piece.
The Greenery says its cucumber volumes will remain stable this season and producers are forecasting a stronger price situation for cucumbers. “Cucumbers are just coming back from market prices we have not seen for many, many years,” says Marcel Paul from Quality Produce International (QPI).
“We hope this season will be better than the previous two,” says Verwegen. “At the start, we witnessed slightly less supply from Spain, which has had a positive effect on Dutch sales.”
Verwegen points out that good weather conditions in the summer can also have a stimulating effect on cucumber consumption.
Greenery UK launched a thin-skin cucumber last April and Verwegen says initial response to the product has been very positive. However, while the firm enjoyed a great response from both retailers and consumers, sales have declined following an initial peak.
According to Verwegen, the downturn can be attributed to several factors. “Weather conditions have not been favourable for cucumber consumption and the premium price of the product apparently became an issue as consumers started downgrading in general,” he explains.
It seems that while there are a number of bright spots this season, exporting Dutch produce to the UK market is more difficult than it was 12 months ago, say insiders.
Shipments to the UK are under pressure, with the value of sterling continuing to come under scrutiny. QPI says that many of its customers are talking to the firm quite openly and honestly about the changed situation.
From the growers’ perspective, QPI says it also has the added pressure of ensuring realistic prices that will enable producers to remain in the market in the future.
However, Paul feels that prices are more likely to be affected by production and whether good climatic conditions will increase consumption, rather than the current economic climate or the exchange rate.
On a more positive note, daily activities are not being affected too significantly and QPI anticipates a normal trading year. “We are not looking for drastic changes at the moment,” Paul tells FPJ. “We will simply work together with our existing customers as much as we can to work through the current climate.
“Times will change in the future and we can only hope that some of our customers will remember our support then. Where we can, we will take out some costs, for example using cheaper boxes, cheaper transport, etc. However, the final service we provide has to be maintained at the level that our customers are used to receiving from QPI, poor economic climate or not.”
Paul is confident that the UK will continue turning towards the Netherlands for salads. “The fact is that the UK market depends a lot on imports, even during the summer months, and this will not change overnight,” he explains.
In addition, Verwegen says that Dutch produce sales have been boosted by new entrants to the discount market. “A major selling point is the quality and freshness of the produce,” he adds.
Van der Voort points out that even in a period of economic crisis, consumers will not stop eating fresh produce. However, she predicts that salad prices will be under a lot of pressure, so further consolidation among Dutch firms is to be expected. “It will be the only way to keep prices from going down,” she says.
Verwegen argues that consolidation among producers is a long-term trend and growers are joining forces to invest in combined heat and power (CHP) systems. Supporters say CHP systems, which produce electricity by burning gas - with the unwanted heat from the process being used to heat the nursery - are essential in managing costs and producing in a cost-efficient way.
Furthermore, the trend towards consolidation is fuelled by a need for producers to renew their glasshouses. Verwegen says that as the older glasshouses disappear, larger structures are taking their place. “This is a recurring process that happens on a 10-15-year basis and is constantly taking place in the Dutch sector,” he adds.
In these challenging times, producers are keen to spread the risk and export to as many countries as they can. The announcement by the US to amend 100 per cent tariffs on tomatoes and shallots, as well as certain types of onions, carrots and chicory from its list of European imports on March 23, could also boost Dutch exports in the future.
