From cultivation to shelf

The prices in the agrifood sector are often part of the public debate nowadays: the producer would receive too little, and the consumer would pay too much. Therefore SEO Economic Research examined the supply of fresh fruit and vegetables and the role of wholesalers. Between cultivation and shelf the wholesale plays an intermediate role. The wholesaler takes care of the logistics, the assurance of food quality and safety and absorb risks.

Importing and exporting fruit and vegetables has become increasingly important for the Dutch horticulture sector. Customers can choose between products from different countries, depending on the season. Suppliers export a large part of the harvest.

This report looks at the structure of the consumer price and concludes that the supermarket a greater share in consumer prices the wholesaler. Gross profit (the sum of costs and profit) of the supermarket is two to almost three times larger than the gross margin of the wholesaler.

Based on publicly available data, the price structure of the red sweet peppers was also examined. For the red sweet pepper the gross margin of the supermarket is at least four times higher than the gross margin of the wholesaler. According to estimates, the gross margin of the supermarket on the red pepper can mount up to 63% of consumers euros, the rest will go to wholesalers (7%), grower (24%) and VAT (6%).