There will be no air on the carrot market. Demand is lagging behind supply and this does not appear to be improving in the short term. In fact, Senegal is disappearing and there is no prospect of another market asking for extra carrots to compensate for this.
Senegal is closing its borders earlier this year. Normally, exporters can visit the country until mid-December, but now the last carrot must be on the quay there at the beginning of December. This means that around this time the last carrot for this destination is rinsed and prepared to arrive on time. In itself, Senegal is not a very big player on the Dutch market, but in an already overcrowded market, every destination that is lost dampens the mood. That is now the case with the dozens of containers that are estimated to go to Senegal every week.
Reality check
Farmers and scavengers are now in the same boat. Few transactions are made and both are more or less forced to do business below cost price if they want to get business. Bad prices are more common, especially around this time according to several traders. "Last spring and summer, some people seemed to think that trees grow to the sky. Now we are being put back down to earth," said one of the traders.
The DCA Quotation for B-carrot this week amounts to an average of €5,50 per 100 kilos. That is €0,50 lower than last week. The price band is between €4 and €7, with the vast majority of the carrot being traded at the bottom of the quotation. The DCA Quotation of C-peen has also dropped by €0,50 and amounts to €4,50 per 100 kilos.