The organic vegetable market is awash with product thanks to an exceptionally clement November in Spain and later-running seasons due to mild temperatures in northern Europe.
Peter Davis of importer-exporter Davis (Louth) Ltd said: “They were still pulling organic produce out of the ground in southern Germany last week. There was a lot of cauliflower, cabbage, carrots and spring onions, all organic supplies. In Spain, they have destroyed a mountain of organic and conventionally grown cucumbers.”
The products, said Davis, have simply not been selling and prices have plummeted, with organic tomatoes as low as 250p for a 5kg carton at wholesale last week.
The situation has been so depressed that growers of organic produce are selling their lines as conventional just to shift them.
Davis said: “We have had to sell a lot of salad as conventional. We get people calling us up that we haven’t heard from in ages asking us to take product.”
Looking back over average prices for November last year and comparing them with this season, Davis has found that most lines have seen prices plummet. Lettuce prices are down 23 per cent year on year, tomatoes 38 per cent, cucumbers and cabbage both 26 per cent, broccoli and cauliflower both 18 per cent and the only line that seems to have shown an increase is capsicum, which has experienced a four per cent uplift in pricing.
Looking ahead, Davis forecasts a shortage of supply as products that were meant to come on stream three weeks hence have been harvested already.
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