"Spanish tomatoes too expensive for export, eggplant boom over"

Frutas Luna from Roquetas de Mar (Almería) buys Spanish greenhouse vegetables from growers with an a…

Frutas Luna from Roquetas de Mar (Almería) buys Spanish greenhouse vegetables from growers with an acreage varying from 1 to 100 hectares, mainly for the Northern European market. Director Kees Havenaar evaluates now that the season has kicked off.

"The coloured bell peppers reach the market in Spain a little later. There will only be enough supply in three weeks or even longer. This has everything to do with the high temperatures during the summer," Kees says. "The late cucumbers are gradually entering the market now. There's particularly high demand for small sizes, but as always the grower doesn't pick them for this price."

"Supplies of eggplants, on the other hand, are at a normal level, particularly of the thicker sizes. Due to the low prices, growers are only picking M and G, nobody wants to pick the P size, so those are a lot more expensive," the Almería specialist continues. "I think the eggplant market will bounce back this week, because the big boom is over, and temperatures have gone down a bit, both at night and during the day."

"Courgettes have suffered from last week's dark weather, and the rain didn't do the crop much good either. Added to the old cultivation, which is suffering from viruses, there's a little less produce all in all, and good demand. Finally, the tomato season has just started, but these are too expensive for export. The really high numbers of vine tomatoes will only come in December," Kees concludes.