Bell peppers now form one of the best-selling greenhouse vegetables within Combilo. Pepper sales have been represented by Rob van der Bas for many years, and since October 2023, Tom van der Meer has also been pepper product manager. "Peppers are a product group that presents many challenges every year, from growing to trading. Every year is different and we are noticing that again this year," Tom says.
Virtually no quality problems so far 
"The Netherlands has had fewer sunshine hours this year compared to the start of 2023 and this naturally also affects the yield. Thereby, the challenge remains this year as well to keep the crop as strong as possible and avoid drop-outs. Nice to see that so far there are virtually no quality problems to be found on and in the peppers," says the product manager.
"Where last week prices were slowly dropping every day, it has found its bottom again and have started taking some steps up again. Availability is not disappointing, but demand exceeds supply, so that makes for reasonable prices and fine sales. Green is comparatively a bit cheaper, but that is mainly because Polish peppers are already on offer around us. It will also not be long before Polish red peppers will be offered."
"Retail orders have scaled up slightly due to the good weather, and wholesale demand is currently ensuring that stocks are keeping up, and we don't have an oversupply. Not surprisingly, the acreage in red pepper is the largest nationwide. Yellow and orange peppers often serve a specific market. Last weeks, for instance, we see that when Americans buys from the Netherlands, they will choose yellow and orange peppers in particular. On the other hand, yellow and orange peppers also go into the colour mix, so that they also reach consumers packaged.
Peppers processed into puree
"Peppers will thus find their way to consumers: both unpackaged and packaged, in various combinations. At Combilo, we try to offer the widest possible range to customers so that we can provide every pepper with a boss," says Tom. "Nowadays, we can even guarantee the residual flows since the establishment of Combilo Food Solutions, where the peppers are processed into purees."
"In any case, we assume that consumers will be eating even more peppers in the coming period, given the nice weather that has been forecast. But however the pepper market will develop, together with all our colleagues we have been putting Dutch greenhouse vegetables on the map in Europe for 100 years, and we will continue to do so."
For more information:
Tom van der Meer
Combilo
Transportweg 23
2742 RH Waddinxveen
Tel: +31 180 446 723
[email protected]
www.combilo.nl