GA-OGV and VSSE on the marketing of German asparagus:

“The food retail customer wants German green asparagus”

“The food retail customer wants German green asparagus. All this time, they’ve been buying Spanish asparagus because it was always much cheaper. German green asparagus was mainly geared towards having anthocyanin. It was already mentioned by Mr. Meinhardt: the decisive factor in marketing is quality,” said Karl-Martin Vielhauer, Deputy Managing Director and authorized signatory of OGA, at the beginning of the conversation with Simon Schumacher from the Verband Süddeutscher Spargel- und Erdbeeranbauer e.V. (en.: Association of South German Asparagus and Strawberry Growers, VSSE) about the market situation from a sales perspective during the Pfälzer Spargeltag.

“Anthocyanin-free asparagus can also be beautifully presented if you take the trouble to prepare it. I would rather rely on anthocyanin-free produce if marketing performance allows it. It is also a fact that the wholesale market is not interested in dark green produce.” A 500 g bunch of green asparagus should have at least five spears, “otherwise it won’t sell,” said Vielhauer.

Simon Schumacher added that, at the beginning of the barbecue season, there is a large buffer of old white asparagus plants for the green asparagus production. “I agree with Mr. Meinhardt. It’s better to plan for green asparagus and then sell the planned green asparagus,” Vielhauer pointed out.

Aldi advertises the fact that from a certain point in time, it will only sell German asparagus, Schumacher continued, asking whether this trend will continue. “I think that the trend is definitely there.” The question is whether the food retail industry is willing to pay for German asparagus. “This is always my fear. Aldi had German green asparagus for one year, and then it was suddenly too expensive for them. Then they sold Spanish asparagus again because that was the cheaper product available.”

Last year, the industry campaigned for an extension to 24 cm, Schumacher pointed out. This would have led to a theoretical 10 percent increase in the volume of white asparagus. “Of course, the increase in volume was not quite as high as calculated because the spears were already 23 cm long. This was secretly allowed. For me, the clear realization from 2024 is: please no longer than 24 cm. 24 becomes 25 – it no longer looks nice, and then we really have woody asparagus,” says Vielhauer.

Day of the German asparagus
Since 2023, there has been the Tag des Deutschen Spargels (en.: Day of German Asparagus), which this year again takes place on May 5. In the first year, retailers adopted the idea into their advertising leaflets, which was significantly less last year, Schumacher noted, and asked for further ideas to involve retailers without turning this promotional campaign into a junk day. “Personally, I think the Tag des Deutschen Spargels is great,” replied Vielhauer. “It gets people talking about asparagus. Some great marketing tools have been developed that retailers can use. But everyone knows that the food retail industry has of course already planned everything – including their own flyers. It is up to all of us to bring this topic to the attention of the retail industry again. The day itself falls perfectly between Easter and Mother’s Day because there is plenty of asparagus then.”

In this context, Schumacher also mentioned the new Herkunftskennzeichen Deutschland, a German origin label. The hope is that consumers will be more likely to buy asparagus with this label, especially green asparagus. “If you ask me personally, it’s just one more label. This label is not as distinctive as I would like it to be. In principle, you need one that immediately catches the consumer’s eye. I have the impression that the label is not that eye-catching.”

The stars are aligned quite well
Finally, Schumacher asked for an outlook. “We’ll keep fighting,” said Vielhauer. “I think the stars are aligned quite well: the film is on, Easter is ideally placed this year. But if it’s 30 degrees again from April 25 to May 30, the world will look quite different. What the consumer is in the mood for is also still something to consider,” he concluded.

Photo credit: VSSE

For more information:
Karl-Martin Vielhauer
OGA / OGV Nordbaden eG
Industriestr. 1-3
76646 Bruchsal
Tel +49 7251 8002-0
Mail: mail@oga-bruchsal.de
Web: https://www.oga-bruchsal.de