A Dutch seed company expects Eastern European markets to follow in the footsteps of their Western European counterparts when it comes to organic produce trends.

De Bolster managing director Frank Vosselman told www.freshfruitportal.com consumers in Eastern Europe were becoming increasingly interested in organic produce.

"If you look at the development you can now see that organic is starting over there," he said.

"So the first demand is coming, and then normally in the cycle organic seeds comes a couple of years after that."

De Bolster started business 20 years ago, and now produces vegetable seeds for produce items including tomatoes, squash, beans and bell peppers.

Elsewhere in Europe, the countries that have seen the biggest demand growth for organic seeds have been France, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland and Austria.

De Bolster this year released various new bell pepper varieties and a winter squash cultivar intended for the processing industry.

The bell peppers are the company's first venture with the vegetable into the professional sector.

"This is our new world program for professional market. We didn’t really have good material for the professional market before, just the hobby market. Some other new varieties will be joining later in the year."

Red, orange, yellow and purple varieties are amongst those that were recently released.

Vosselman said while the cultivars had so far been well received, it took time to build up suitable volumes.

"This year we ran out of seeds pretty quickly, so it’s important to get the seed production ready," he said.

www.freshfruitportal.com