While for many it could have been a bit warmer during the summer months, it was ideal for strawberry production, according to Philip Van Overbeke. "When you work with temperature peaks you also see that the productions are very volatile, but now everything grew out smoothly, and we had a stable supply," explains the entrepreneur, who runs the eponymous partnership with his daughter.
Philip therefore speaks of a positive summer. "In supply anyway. You have those summers when you constantly have very warm periods. Then the strawberries come into production too quickly, causing shortages at other times and gaps in the season. Then, prices also constantly fluctuate between very high and then very low again. Fortunately, things have been fairly stable now, so we can still speak of a fine summer."
Still, on the sales side, it is always a bit quieter during the holiday period for the company that mainly grows Sonsation. "Normally at the beginning of July, when the holidays start, we see that demand traditionally decreases a bit. That did happen again this year too, but I still feel it wasn't too bad with us. I have heard colleagues where sales really shot down, but we were able to continue working well." Whether the Olympics had any part in this, Philip doesn't know. "Sometimes you see with events, like Wimbledon, that demand gets a boost and prices go up, but this summer I didn't notice much of that. On the contrary, prices have been a bit on the low side over the past few weeks. In fact, they have only picked up since about five days. Why exactly? That's hard to say. That can go quickly when certain supermarkets launch promotions."
No extreme heat
Maatschap Van Overbeke offers its strawberries from April until the end of the year. "It is quiet for a while now, which allows me to enjoy a little holiday. Then you have the advantage that I can leave everything in the very capable hands of my daughter. However, in a fortnight' time, the second planting will start coming into production, so then there will be more volumes on the market again. Therefore, I do expect that there might be another dip in prices. That is always hard to predict with a weather-dependent product like strawberries, because if that stays on the right side a bit, we will sell as well."
However, Philip argues that it shouldn't get too hot. "This week it has been a bit warmer for a few days, but fortunately the temperature has now stabilised. Last year, of course, we had that it suddenly got very hot at the end of August/beginning of September. As a result, the strawberries were sad and everything had come into production far too quickly. It created gaps and on top of that, many growers had to stop a month early because they were picked out. Prices ran very high at the time, but if you don't have strawberries, you can't do anything with them. It is therefore now to be hoped for sales that reasonable temperatures remain, but preferably no extreme warmth. Nice 20 degrees is fine, so we can continue a nice stable season."
For more information:
Philip and Jorien Van Overbeke
Aardbeien Van Overbeke
Bessemstraat 65
8790 Waregem (Belgium)
+32 (0) 56 61 43 88
[email protected]
www.aardbeienvanoverbeke.be