The first Hoogstraten-branded 200g punnet of Belgian strawberries of the new season were sold at the Hoogstraten auction to exporter Special Fruit for €500 (£447) on Friday last week.
As usual the producer, Cees Buijnsters of Etten Leur in Holland, is sending the proceeds to charity: this year, it is the Belgian emergency committee’s Haiti campaign that will benefit and the auction Veiling Hoogstraten will double donation on behalf of all the auction’s strawberry growers.
Hoogstraten-born Special Fruit manager François Maes said: "With the purchase of the first Hoogstraten strawberries, we would like to announce the official start of the new season to our international clients.”
His company is celebrating its 20th anniversary in October this year and is also organising an international strawberry congress at the Hoogstraten research station on 1-3 September this year.
