CEO Steven van Schilfgaarde is convinced that shrinking auction turnover is not structural. “As a sector, we are capable of realizing growth, provided that the government pursues a stable policy that supports the energy transition, so that entrepreneurs are unafraid to take the risk of investing and banks are willing to provide the funding.”
It is a matter of conjecture, but Steven van Schilfgaarde expects RFH to achieve a turnover of EUR 5 billion this year, about EUR 200 million less than last year. The decline is largely due to lower volumes, as prices are higher than in 2022. Bad spring weather in Kenya and less supply from the Netherlands due to the energy crisis are what caused this disappointing ‘halftime score’ after six months.
This is the second year in a row that growers’ realised auction turnovers have dropped, but the CEO is adamant that the contraction of Dutch horticulture and of the auction is not structural. On the contrary, the auction does not even have a downsizing scenario; he expects volumes to rise. This is possible if the government pursues a stable policy and the prices of plants and flowers rise to compensate for the steep rise in costs.