The asparagus season for Belgian auction BelOrta, borne of last year's merger between Coöbra and Mechelse Veilingen, started positively this year, with temperatures reaching a healthy 10-15oC before the recent cold and snowfall made an unwelcome return.
"If the weather continues like this, it will be a difficult season for asparagus," said Jo Lambrecht, BelOrta's commercial manager. "Last year we had a cold start to the season, which led to lower volumes. We hope it won't be the same this time around, but anything is possible."
According to Lambrecht, this week's snowfall is likely to delay production. "We hope there won't be too much damage," he told Eurofruit. "We also have some greenhouse production, which is going really well."
BelOrta expects volumes this season to reach around 2,000 tonnes, mostly white asparagus, which is more popular on the Belgian market, where 90-95 per cent of the auction's volumes are sold.
"The rest goes to various countries, including the Netherlands and France, but we are interested in all export markets," said Lambrecht. "We are keen on developing the Belgian market, but since there are peaks in production, exports are important. We are looking at special packaging for our exports in order to improve the shelf life, and we are also doing tests on how best to transport the product."
Lambrecht revealed that the merger between Coöbra and Mechelse was unlikely to have a major impact where asparagus was concerned.
"Coöbra had some asparagus under private label brands, but not as much as Mechelse, which sold under the Flandria label," he said. "Now that the two auctions are combined, we have all the production under the same clock and we will be able to reach some new customers. Everyone in Belgium knows Mechelse-branded asparagus, so we are going to promote this name more and extend it to other products like lettuce and cauliflower. This should help to increase the brand's reputation further."
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