The Belgian greenhouse vegetable season is now in full swing. The sunshine has been a long time coming, but since this week, there is no escaping it. It means the appetite for a tomato, strawberry, but also a sweet pepper is there among consumers again. "Due to the difficult spring, it is unfortunately not really a production year in peppers in terms of volumes. Nevertheless, so far there is a nice balance between supply and demand on the market," Bart Van Bael of Coöperatie Hoogstraten told us.
People often think of Coöperatie Hoogstraten first when they think of strawberries. What is less known is the important role of peppers within the Hoogstraten range. "However, this versatile vegetable deserves just as much attention, especially in the light of the significant investments and developments, through Project Paprika, in recent years," adds Wouter Dillien, Supply Chain Manager at Coöperatie Hoogstraten, who proudly talks about Project Paprika: "At Coöperatie Hoogstraten, we strive to innovate and unburden our growers. Project Paprika plays a crucial role in this. Through further automation, quality grading and flexibility, we want to remain a leading player in the sector."
The current season has not really been easy for the cooperative yet. "We always start in mid-March and of course all our growers are in production in the meantime. Still, it has been another unpredictable spring because of the little sunlight we have received," Bart continues. "That caused imbalance in the plants, which made it difficult for us to start up. We are still feeling this in our production per week, which comes in waves even more than usual."
Ups and downs in supply
Despite a difficult start, busy weeks are now coming for Coöperatie Hoogstraten. "The next two weeks we are in peak production, as there are some peppers hanging ready. Good demand is also making these weeks nice sales, especially now that the sun is showing itself more. However, the 2-3 weeks after that will be a bit more difficult. It's a year with ups and downs. Peppers are always more sensitive to it, but this year it is quite extreme."
However, the market on the demand side remains reasonably balanced, Bart explains. "There has always been enough demand so far to keep prices at a nice level. We are hoping that the good weather will continue over the next two weeks, as this will cause more consumption in 
Belgium and surrounding countries anyway. That would then coincide nicely with our production peak. After that, the holiday period traditionally makes for difficult weeks on the sales side, so prices are unlikely to go down with the lower production that then also follows. It actually coincides pretty well."
Snack segment growing
In terms of market competition, Bart is not worried either. "Benelux is leading at the moment. There is always competition from the south, because Spain is still in production, with its supply always finding its way to us and surrounding countries, but I think we can stand out in the markets that are important to us. Here the Belgian market is obviously big, but the Netherlands, Germany and France are also increasingly active. In addition, the UK is very actively sourcing our product at the moment."
In this, he does see a slight shift in the popularity of the varieties of peppers. "The sweeter varieties are becoming more popular. This is something we have been seeing for a while. Green, orange and yellow are always more popular than just green peppers anyway. You also see that the sweet pointed pepper is really trending, and the snack segment is becoming more and more important. Ease of use in particular is taking over, but we can respond to this with our seedless snack pepper. It is up to us to keep selecting varieties for the coming years and not take the way down in flavour and sweetness. Opting for the right varieties to stay in the market. Whereas sweet pepper really used to be a bulk product par excellence, we do hope to take it to the next level in the future."
Project Paprika; commercialisation and unburdening growers
For the cooperative, this ambition in paprika also means investing in innovation. "We are proud of our recent investment in a brand-new palletiser and strapper for automatic stacking of pallets as part of orders. By continuously investing in forward-looking technologies, such as AI-controlled camera sorting systems and automatic liders, we aim to remain at the forefront of high-tech advances," Wouter continued.
For the future, therefore, Coöperatie Hoogstraten wants to take next steps in bell peppers. This applies on the customer side, but also certainly on the grower side. Marcel Biemans, Manager Grower Development at the cooperative, explains: "At Hoogstraten, the commercialisation of peppers is just as important as taking care of our pepper growers. Coöperatie Hoogstraten has been trying for years to get the best price from the market for growers thanks to a flexible approach to orders from the Central Sorting Department and optimal use of the clock. Our mission is to unburden our growers as much as possible, so that they can fully focus on their core business of growing high-quality fruit and vegetables. Growers can count on our permanent team, which is always ready to help."
"We ensure that our growers' products meet the highest standards, with correct quality sorting and deliveries. This enables us to always meet and even exceed our customers' expectations," says Marcel. "A persistent misconception is that this comes with high costs, something that is absolutely not true. Thanks to efficient operations and a focus on a few main products (strawberries/soft fruit and greenhouse vegetables), marketing costs for Hoogstraten growers are competitive."
It also drives the cooperative to look for new growers to fill the demand for peppers. "Thanks to flexibility and quality, Coöperatie Hoogstraten currently has more demand for peppers than its growers can fill with the current acreage. As a result, we are always looking for new growers who can meet this demand," Marcel concludes.
For more information:
Marcel Biemans
Coöperatie Hoogstraten
Loenhoutseweg 59
2320 Hoogstraten, Belgium
Tel: +32 33 40 02 11
[email protected]
www.hoogstraten.eu