Freek Jan Koekoek Quinoa was spotted in the reclaimed land of the Dutch Flevo Polder: another sign that quinoa is moving out of the original production zone of the Andes mountains. The Flevo Polder is a highly productive agricultural area with a mathematical lay-out, reclaimed from the sea in the 1950s and 1960s. Photos courtesy of Frank Tel … Read more
In the past year (2014/2015) the chia market has cooled down substantially, as a result of a record production in 2014. In Bolivia, for example, the area sown in 2014 increased to 80000 hectares, from 50000 hectares in 2013 (CBI 2014)*. Prices to farmers have become very low, with conventional chia of unspecified quality changing … Read more
Recent developments have diminished the relevance of the Challapata market for the export prices of quinoa. At Mercadero we have therefore decided to discontinue the Challapata price service, following the suggestion of our informants. There are two main reasons for this: both quality and price of quinoa traded at Challapata are no longer representative for … Read more
Growth of EU quinoa imports from Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador accelerated to 57% in January-May 2015 compared to the same period in 2014. In January- May 2014 imports grew at ‘only’ 32% compared to a year before. In 2014 as a whole the import volume from these three countries was 14,468 MT, which constituted an … Read more
From Plant Research International, 3 September 2014 The Wageningen UR project ‘Salt tolerant Quinoa for food in China, Vietnam and Chile’ has received a major prize. The quinoa project is one of the winners of the Securing Water for Food Grand Challenge. The prize is awarded to researcher Robert van Loo during the World Water … Read more
In my role of coach of SMEs from Bolivia and Pakistan, Mercadero will be present at SIAL 2014, the leading European trade fair for food products. Check out the companies exhibiting with us at http://naturalingredientsupplier.com/. This year no less than 25 supported companies present a variety of products, including the superfoods chia and quinoa, natural … Read more
Dutch certified organic exports increased 9% in 2013 and reached €852 million, according to a recent study by Bionext, the Dutch organic sector organisation. Exports are almost equal to Duch organic consumption of just over €1 billion. An export value of €518 million concerns imported produce to which value is added before re-exporting. Especially in … Read more
Trade statistics show a continuous increase in volume and price, both in trade (import/export) and retail. The statistics are well substantiated but at the same time, there are wild speculations about where the price increase is happening. Since very few sources publish current and complete information about price development in the producing countries, export and … Read more
Since the beginning of the year, CBI (Centre for the Promotion of Imports from Developing Countries) in collaboration with Mercadero and ProFound have been working on developing and assessing the possible future scenarios for the quinoa sector. Is quinoa continuing to be praised as a “superfood” which provides a better income for producers and a … Read more
…Or can fundamental factors in supply and demand explain the increase in prices and limited availability? For a small and exotic crop like quinoa it is unusual to hit the headlines in national media. But quinoa managed just this last week in Dutch media (such as De Telegraaf, NRC Handelsblad and Biojournaal), although the occasion … Read more