The fruit and vegetable distributor and auctioneer BelOrta is calling on Belgians to buy more local produce. 2023 was a special year for BelOrta, as the company took over BFV. BFV is the fruit auction in the Limburg town of Sint-Truiden. The area around Sint-Truiden, the rest of southern Limburg and the neighbouring area in the north of Liège Province is "fruit basket" of Belgium.
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"Buy local!" BelOrta calls on people to buy Belgian fruit and veg
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In 2023, around 200 million kilos of pears, 85 million kilos of apples and 13 million kilos of strawberries were harvested in Limburg Province alone. Since the integration of "Belgische Fruitveiling" (BFV) in Sint-Truiden into the BelOrta Group in the middle of last year produce from Limburg Province has been auctioned at BelOrta’s site in Sint-Katelijne-Waver to wholesalers, retailers and export companies. The previous BFV distribution centre in Sint-Truiden has now been closed.
New legal regulations are increasing the costs of local, i.e. Belgian produce and this is having to be passed on to consumers. BelOrta’s Managing Director Philippe Appeltans told VRT NWS that "We are concerned about overregulation and ever stricter regulations being imposed our producers, because this is increasing costs and cutting margins."
Mr Appeltans added that the market is no longer able to compensate for this, which is why BelOrta is now appealing to consumers to buy more fruit and vegetables harvested in Belgium: "Our growers are working hard every day to provide us with the tastiest fruit. We hope that customers will continue to pay an honest price for this and not resort to cheaper imported products in order to save a few eurocent".