A lot of rain at the end of May, and hot weather right after this affected the cauliflower production in the North of France. “Within 3-4 days we expect a terrible market. We had between 80 to 110 mm in less than 48 hours in the Bethune area, which is 40 minutes from South-West of Lille,” explains Jean-Pierre Dalle from Ribambelle. Growers lost 30% of the crops for cauliflowers, red and white cabbage in the Bethune area. In other areas it is a bit less, because they have better ground and field. “The prices are really low as well, at the moment the price is €3.90 per box of 6 heads for the grower. This includes packaging and cooperative cost. Prices are expected to go up within a couple of days, but not in relation to the loss of the growers.” In general the market is always very quiet in summer and good in winter. However today the auction counted 7,000 boxes of harvest and tomorrow the expectation is 4,000 boxes. A year ago the auction had on the same day 20,000 boxes. Growers have to wait a couple of days to continue to plant the new crop. Most regional growers planted just a small part of their crop until May 30. “If weather stays good, to the end of the week they will continue planting and we expect the market to recover by the middle of July.” Source - http://www.freshplaza.com