For many people, eating asparagus is simply a part of spring. The asparagus farmers are looking forward to a satisfactory season so far – and are also expecting good business for the upcoming holidays.
Consumers have benefited from relatively low asparagus prices this season. The average price for a kilo of white asparagus was 8.52 euros last week. A year ago the price was 20 cents higher, said market expert Claudio Gläßer from Agrarmarkt Informations-Gesellschaft (AMI) in Bonn.
One reason for the relatively low price was the numerous promotions in retail. It is difficult to make a forecast about price developments. The retail sales promotions led to rapid changes in consumer prices. However, a further decline in consumer prices is unlikely because demand is high, said Gläßer.
From the perspective of the growers, the season has been positive so far this year, despite the weather being rather cloudy and cold at times in April. “The development of the asparagus season is always very dependent on the weather,” said Gläßer. Thanks to the sunny weather around Easter, the start of the season went very well because a lot of goods were available. Due to the worse weather in mid-April, the harvest volumes decreased, but this was compensated for by stocks stored. Thanks to numerous advertising campaigns by food retailers, demand remained at a high level.
The upcoming holidays of Ascension and Pentecost are the producers of good things, said Gläßer. “With the sunny weather there will be enough asparagus available and this will be matched by good demand.” There is no oversupply of asparagus and there is good demand for it.
Source: Stern
