ANP
In collaboration with
West transmission
News from the NOS•today, 13:15
Some of the greenhouse horticulture companies are in dire straits due to rising energy prices. But there are also a number of growers who benefit from high gas prices.
“Anyone who has bought intelligently resells their gas and can make a lot of money with it,” said grower Rob Baan of Monster’s Koppert Cress. West transmission. This concerns growers who have previously purchased their energy for a longer period of time and on a large scale. Now they can resell that gas to companies without contracts or with expiring contracts.
Baan gives an example of the calculation: “Suppose a farmer has bought gas for five years at 20 cents per cubic meter for one million cubic meters. So he will only use half of his garden, so 500,000 cubic meters, and for the other half. del In the garden he ‘sells’ gas, at one euro per cubic meter, therefore 500 thousand euro in total. Then he makes a big profit “.
According to Baan, the real buyers are growers who can sell their entire greenhouse under a long gas contract. “People became millionaires in no time,” he says. “For example, horticulturists who are approaching retirement. With the sale of the gas contract they have already received the pension”.
Baan also claims to have bought his gas at a favorable price, but says he is not participating in the lucrative trade. “I trade watercress, not gas.”
Greenhouse Horticulture Netherlands tells Omroep West that he knows what’s going on, “but on a very small scale. Besides, it’s also a way to survive in these times. We can’t say much if growers have gotten rich too. And if so, it will be. really a handful “.
