Interview Maas van den Heuvel
'Reliable price information is still necessary'
Maas van den Heuvel will stop this week with his work for the Agricultural Fair for the Northern and Central Netherlands (LNCN). Since 2006, he has been active as secretary, secretary/treasurer and moderator at the exhibition committees, first at the Noordoostpolder agricultural fair and later, after the merger, at the LNCN. Van den Heuvel was also seen weekly for almost ten years on Boerenbusiness with his stock commentary videos.
How does Van den Heuvel look back on his work at the stock exchange and how does he see the future? talked about that Boerenbusiness with him.
The merger was one of the biggest changes of your period. How do you look back on that?
"When I took office, I did not immediately become popular by saying that it is not about the exhibition floor, the chat or the fun, but about establishing a transparent, representative and reliable price. Then the merger of various regional fairs took place. "
"Recently I came across a folder with newspaper clippings from the sixties. If you see how busy it was at 't Voorhuys on the day of the fair, there were 1.000 to 1.200 visitors every week. It was clear that something had to change. Jan Douma played a very important role in this and was the driving force behind the merger with his clear vision. The joining of forces in the LNCN has improved the value and quality of the quotations. However, I still think it is a shame that the Beursvereniging Wieringermeer and environs has dropped out at the last minute".
What do you see as your most important contribution to the fair?
"Listings are used as a reference and must be reliable. Keeping the stock exchange regulations tight is therefore something I have always insisted on. The listing must be established honestly and transparently and be a fair representation of the prices actually trading at that time. This means, for example, that if the market is very moving, the input from the Friday prior to the meeting will not be included if it deviates significantly from the rest of the listing week. discussed because of other interests".
"We do not include trial loads, as is customary in the carrot trade, in the quotation. Questions are also sometimes asked about this, because a price increase or decrease is therefore only visible in the quotation later. size, 100 tons of conventionally grown carrots according to the scoring method, to be included for the listing.It also sometimes happens that a lot that has been rejected by one trader because of not meeting the specifications, is rejected by a trader bought and brought in. Filtering out such transactions is also something I've been passionate about. The quote must remain clean".
Do you find it a pity that the LNCN does not have its own potato quotation?
"The potato market has changed a lot. I sometimes say: the potato commissioners used to drive in a Mercedes, later that became a Peugeot, later on a Toyota and now there are almost no commission agents left in potatoes. The market has shifted from almost everything free. to a large part of the potatoes that have been captured in one way or another. Relatively few potatoes are now traded completely freely".
"That does not mean that there is no longer a need for a good quotation for potatoes. Some of it is still traded freely and the group still needs a quotation. Within the current structure of the potato quotation in PotatoNL, the grower's input is only limited by. I think that requires revision. But then we need growers who are willing to participate. Arable farmers are now behaving like secret agents. They are eager to know what the neighbor has received for his potatoes, but are not prepared to make their own transactions to report".
Is a stock exchange listing still relevant today?
"Information is circulated very quickly and easily, but reliability sometimes leaves something to be desired. The first person hears something, sends it via WhatsApp, the next tells it, a third picks it up and makes a new app message. In short, many links and a lot of noise on the line. If you then go back to the source, the story often turns out to be different. The form can change, but a reliable source for price information is therefore still necessary."
You stop at the LNCN. Are you going to take it easy now and enjoy your retirement?
"For the rest of this year I'll take it easy and take the time to think about what I want to do next. I have several things in mind, but I can't say anything about that yet. But I do want to stay active. Please I take an example from Ben Ferencz, chief prosecutor at the Nuremberg trial at the Einsatzgruppen tribunal. Ferencz said that it is important to always set new goals. He worked, among other things, for international law and is at a very old age (101 years ) are still active for that."
Jurphaas Lugtenburg
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