Demand for herbs in Sweden is traditionally very seasonal with curly parsley, dill, and chives seeing a good demand during the summer months and the holiday season. A lot of fresh herbs are used by chefs for decorative purposes.
“These days with modern and international cuisine becoming more popular other types of herbs are seeing an increase in demand in the Swedish market,” explains Jimmy Gustavsson, Sales Account Manager på Ewerman AB – part of the Greenfood Group.
“Restaurants will mainly purchase herbs from wholesalers and on occasion from Horeca-based retailers. As chefs often use the herbs for decorative purposes this creates demand for a greenhouse-grown product with no visual flaws.”
Traditional greenhouse-grown potted herbs are still the most common way in which herbs are sold, the exception being dill, parsley, and occasionally chives.
“We are also seeing an increase in demand for other herbs such as mint and coriander from ethnic clients and for international cuisine but affordable cut bunches of herbs still haven´t reached the common retailers as yet. I believe margins from retailers in Sweden sometimes are too high on new try-out produce so people who shop for these products still rather go to ethnic markets because of the price difference but also the shopping behavior of the average Swedish shopper doesn´t normally include these products.”
As in other countries cooking shows have helped increase the demand for fresh herbs and made people aware of different types of herbs as more and more people are cooking less traditional dishes and trying international cuisine. Demand for coriander, basil, and many other fresh herbs has seen good growth recently.
Herbs are mostly imported into Sweden but over the summer season parsley, dill and chives are grown domestically.
For more information:
Jimmy Gustavsson
på Ewerman AB
jimmy.gustavsson@ewerman.se