His Royal Highness Prince Laurent of Belgium visited the country's Mechelse Veilingen yesterday. He was given an extensive presentation on the auction, and exchanged thoughts with the board of directors and management. Prince Laurent visited the auction hall, where he was introduced to the auction system, ecological cultivation and research activities. He also saw the entrance inspection of vegetables and the logistic process.
Prince Laurent participated in the entrance inspection of a delivery of cabbage and chatted with the quality inspectors and the producers. Afterwards he strolled through the production hall and the new distribution centre.
In 2004 it will have been 10 years since the merger between the two auctions in Sint-Katelijne-Waver took place.
The Auction of Mechlin is the largest co-operative vegetables auction in Europe. The auction was established in 1950 and has constantly grown for more than 50 years: the 220 staff members of the Mechelse Veilingen realize an annual turnover of €217 million. The auction is situated in Sint-Katelijne-Waver, in the heart of the vegetable garden of Europe. Together the 1,400 active producers supply the full range of vegetables all year round.
