The situation is difficult for some greenhouse vegetables, which are suffering from the heat waves of the first few weeks of July. "At the end of July, cucumber and eggplant volumes were 50% and 20% lower than initially forecast, respectively," explains Alexandre Picault, managing director of Kultive. "From an agronomic point of view, the heatwave hit at the worst possible time for the plant, when the days were the longest. Many flowers sank, no matter the produce, and many plants went into vegetative dormancy, a phenomenon amplified when the crop is grown in greenhouses."
The market rebalanced itself thanks to the bad weather
As a result of these long weeks of hot weather, production was completely down compared to consumption, a trend that increases year after year. "The day before August 15th is always a high point for cucumbers. Consumption was very dynamic in the first half of July when the weather was very hot. According to Kantar figures, it has increased by 25% this year. Unfortunately, with production down for almost a month, we have to restrict our clients until the 15th of August." On a positive note, however, the bad weather in the second half of July curbed cucumber consumption, thus rebalancing the market.
© Kultive
Replanting under way to meet the demand
The situation should improve from mid-August if the weather remains favorable. "The heatwave has forced some growers to review their planting schedules. The crops that have been hit the hardest are being uprooted and replanted to grow cucumbers as a third crop, which some growers had not planned to do, therefore generating additional costs. With favorable weather for the plants, the volumes that were due to arrive between July 14th and August 15th will arrive between August 15th and September 15th. Although the replanting is meant to make up for this shortfall as quickly as possible, we will never be able to make up for what we lost over the summer period, even if the season had started well."
A situation common to many production areas
The situation is delicate but needs to be put into perspective, as many producers are affected in the same way. "The situation is the same in the south of France, where there is also a shortage of cucumbers. In Belgium and the Netherlands, prices are very similar to ours, indicating that they too have been affected by the hot weather. This has helped us maintain prices, but they have not soared. There is still some pressure on prices. We now hope that the market will be ready to absorb the volumes due to arrive by mid-August, and that prices will remain reasonable so that producers can make a profit."
"We have also observed a few problems with our range of field vegetables in all production basins: carrots and beetroot. Some plots have stalled and will certainly be less productive than expected in terms of quantity and/or size/length."