In the greenhouse vegetable market, the impact of the severe weather in Spain, and resulting flooding, remains limited as yet. "There is no panic for the time being. It's terrible for the people there, but in greenhouse vegetables, you see that in the short term, it's mainly a logistical problem because trucks can't pass on the roads, or only with extreme difficulty," explains Jonathan Vandesande of FMB.
The Belgian exporter is now in the transition from local Belgian and Dutch supply to the Spanish season. "Many of our customers had already switched to Spanish tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers as a result. Only now, of course, are we on plan B if they fear lower volumes from Spain. However, we also no longer have the large volumes of the Belgian supply to fill the gap. Still, you can see that many are not panicking yet. On Wednesday afternoon, we received some calls asking whether we still had some stock in case consignments of Spanish greenhouse vegetables did not arrive or arrived too late, but in general, there was certainly no panic. I don't think the Spaniards themselves have a good idea yet either of exactly what the impact of the storm will be."
Still, Jonathan does not foresee a major impact on the market. "Look, if 15 percent of the Spanish crop is lost, that's absorbable in the long run. Of course, it's not little, and terrible for them, but by now products are coming from multiple origins. 15 years ago, everything came from Spain in winter and there was no alternative, but today there are several countries in production. Greece and Italy will again come with a full-ground vegetable supply, which seems to be most affected in Spain. Many loose tomatoes will also come from Morocco and vine tomatoes from Turkey. For cucumbers and sweet peppers, we will have to see what the impact is, but that will become more apparent next week."
Several national media have already talked about the expected price spikes in different vegetable varieties, but the traders do not see this happening for now. "At the moment, prices have certainly not exploded. For tomatoes, they remain normal and you can also see that people are paying a bit more for cucumbers and peppers, but that also has to do with the fact that our season is coming to an end, so fewer volumes are coming from here. People are still trying to wait and see. Maybe this is also partly because today is a public holiday in Belgium, southern Germany, Spain, and France, so everything is closed."
"I therefore expect that in the short term (between now and the middle of next week) the biggest problem will be logistics," Jonathan explains. "The trucks, which may already be loaded, won't be able to travel on the roads or will find it difficult to do so. For now, our customers seem to assume that the products will still arrive, but that, I think, is the biggest question mark. Transporters have already indicated to several customers that they cannot guarantee that a truck will arrive in Belgium on Monday or Tuesday. If they arrive later, again the question is, in what condition will they be? We will have to wait and see."
For more information:
Jonathan Vandesande
Frans Michiels & Zn (FMB)
Kempenarestraat 50A - Bus 3
2860 Sint-Katelijne-Waver, Belgium
Tel: +32 15 560600
[email protected]
www.fmb.be