Summer vegetables are about to come on stream from Belgium with increased volumes and new products to be marketed under quality label Flandria.

Speciality courgettes are an important line for Flandria growers particularly yellow courgettes and the round yellow or green Courgette de Nice. “Availability will be from May and will run through to September,” explained a spokeswoman. “We have production under protective structures and in the open air.” The speciality lines have been a feature of the offer from the Belgian auctions for the last two years and one of the key concerns has been to keep supply in line with demand and maintain pricing. “Prices are quite high for these products as there is enough demand in relation to product availability,” said the spokeswoman. “We expect the outlook to remain positive in the future while we can maintain the balance between our offer and market demand.”

Another small niche that the Belgian auctions have been developing is that of speciality cauliflower. The open air summer crop is due to start next month. “Product availability should continue until October,” said the Flandria spokeswoman. “We have Romanesco and green cauliflower that have been available on the Belgian auctions for about 10 years. Purple cauliflower was about two years later.”

But these lines have not really been promoted until now, that they can be produced under the Flandria quality label.

The offer is still small but these products are targeted mainly at the catering sector, particularly restaurants, and specialist retailers on the Continent.

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