Prices will rise – vegetables will become scarce: “Size not yet foreseeable”

Vegetables have become about 15 percent more expensive year on year, but we will soon have to pay even more for salads and the like. Due to the sharply higher gas costs, production in the greenhouse no longer pays off, as a result of which many growers in Germany and other important growing countries are now ceasing their activities.

In the Netherlands it is even more lucrative to sell the gas to energy suppliers for good money than to grow vegetables with it.

Not yet a severe winter in the south
“The Netherlands now only produces ten percent of the usual quantities. The supply is still in order because the last domestic stocks are coming onto the market and there is no harsh winter yet in Spain, Greece, etc. But the uncertainty has never been greater than now,” explains Manfred Hohensinner, head of Frutura. Thanks to cheap geothermal heat, he can continue to produce himself in Eastern Styria.

Energy as an important factor
For tomatoes, bell peppers or cucumbers, energy accounts for 50 percent of the total costs and, according to Hohensinner, noticeable price increases will soon be inevitable. And that has probably been for months, because many gardeners start later than usual with sowing for spring. “We usually have fresh local peppers and tomatoes in March. They are planted in January, which is now delayed.”

Hohensinner demands that domestic supply should become more important in the future. We consume 1.2 million tons of vegetables per year, of which only 58 percent come from Austria (tomatoes 18 percent, peppers 30 percent).