女士们，先生们，

你们好！谢谢合作！

经历过极端多雨的2023年秋季、冬季，以及2024年的春季，我们迎来一个非常不平凡的收获季节。难以忘怀，体现于作物生产的方方面面。

在我们2024年3月、4月、6月的市场通讯中，及近期的交流中，我们已经解释了郁金香种球供应少的原因。

1 因为2023年的作物差导致籽球缺乏，以及镰刀菌的影响，导致2024年的种植面积下降5%。

2 自1974年以来最差的种植季节发生了，源于2023年秋季、冬季历史性的降雨。

3 欧洲及其它国家极高的郁金香鲜花价格。

4 相对温暖的2023年冬季及2024年春节，导致田野里的郁金香生长发育早。

5 4、5、6月持续的降雨及冰雹。

6 地里的郁金香开花不整齐，以及很多田地出现水患。

2024年的春季（3、4、5月）是荷兰125年来最潮湿、最温暖的春季。平均温度11.8℃高于9.9℃的长期平均温度。最潮湿，体现在262mm的降雨量，高于142mm的长期平均降雨量。

2024年4月郁金香开花不规则且早。多雨而凉爽的5月通常是有助于郁金香生长的，地里不会收到高温及强光的影响，然而，很多地都被雨水和冰雹破坏了。我们看到，同一块地里生长差异非常大。多雨且凉爽的天气持续到6月。

因为温暖的春季导致郁金香生长早，收获也早。一方面，持续的降雨导致严重的灰霉病，另一方面秋季的多雨导致根生长很差。收获早，通常意味着收获结果差。由于雨依然持续，收获困难。所有的种植地，无论是粘土地，还是砂土地，无论是南北，还是东西，收获结果令人非常失望。在种植区域Hillegom、Breezand，对于那些没有生长出规格12/+，以及非常少量的规格为11/12的郁金香种球的土地，完完全全就是灾难。我们最好的种球生长者，告知我们，印象系列郁金香以及其它达尔文郁金香，根据不同的种球规格，有30-70%的缺口。

缺额如此之多，甚至缺口来自于我们优选的、长期最信赖的种球生产者。2023年已经是历史很差的收获季了，欠收约20%的可销售的郁金香种球，根据这个比例，计算出2023年少收10亿个郁金香种球。2024年甚至更差，我们预计欠收40%，相当于约20亿个郁金香商品种球缺失。

许多老一些的郁金香种球生产者说，今年的收获结果比60年前的1963年还要差。平均来算，种球生产者损失15000欧元/公顷，源于成本的增加以及收入的减少。而且，因为多雨，我们很担心种球的质量，特别是镰刀菌和腐烂。市场上有限的在售种球已经天价。

附原文，改文发自2024年8月1日收到作者的电子邮件。

August 2024

Dear Madam/Sir,

Thank you for your usual cooperation.

After an extremely rainy autumn, winter and spring, we are having a very unusual harvest season. A year to never forget, in all aspects of the growing.

In our previous growing and market reports of March, April, and June 2024, and in our other recent communications, we explained the reasons for the limited availability of tulip bulbs as follows:

1.     The planted acreage decreased by almost 5%, due to the lack of planting stock as a result of the poor crop results of 2023 and numerous fusarium quality problems.

2.     The worst planting season since 1974 due to historically heavy rainfall last autumn and winter.

3.     Extremely high tulip flower prices in Europe and many other countries.

4.     Relatively warm weather in winter and spring, causing early growing in the fields.

5.     Continuous rainfall and even hail in April, May and June.

6.     Irregular flowering of the fields and much water damage.

Spring (March, April and May) in the Netherlands in 2024 was the warmest and wettest in 125 years. The average temperature was 11.8ºC instead of the long-standing average of 9.9ºC. It was also the wettest, with 262 mm instead of an average 142 mm of rainfall. You can find the monthly updated weather data on our website 2024 | Weer | Jan de Wit en Zonen B.V.

The tulips flowered irregularly but quite early in April. The rainy and cool weather in May was basically good for tulip growing. The fields did not suffer from high temperatures or strong sunshine. However, many fields had damage from water and hail. The differences in growth per field can vary a lot. The cool and rainy weather continued into June.

The growers started harvesting early because of the warm spring with early growth. The fields died quickly because of the poor rooting in autumn and severe botrytis due to persistent rainfall.  An early harvest is usually a bad harvest. The harvesting was difficult as the rain still continued. The harvest  results are very disappointing from our growers from all major production areas, both on clay and sandy soils, south and north, east and west. There are complete disasters with fields producing no 12/+ and very little 11/12. From the sandy soils, both in Hillegom and Breezand, our top growers informed us of the Impression series and other Darwin hybrid varieties with shortages ranging from 30-70%, depending on the size.

There are many shortages, even from our selected, long-term, most reliable tulip growers. Crop 2023 was already a historically bad harvest with a shortage of around 20% of commercial tulip bulbs. If you calculate this over the total tulip production, this was an estimated shortage of more than 1 billion tulips. The results of crop 2024 are even worse, and we now estimate a shortage of around 40%, which amounts to a shortage of more than 2 billion tulip bulbs.

Some older tulip growers say the harvest results are even worse than in 1963, more than 60 years ago. On average, the tulip bulb growers are losing 15,000 euros per ha due to the increased growing costs and reduced income. Moreover, we are concerned about bulb quality under these rainy conditions, especially for fusarium and rot. The bulb prices for the limited remaining quantities have become sky-high.

Anyhow, under these difficult circumstances, we would like to keep in touch with you as much as possible by phone, video calls, e-mail, etc., and through our livestreams. We would like to invite you to follow us on our social media for updates on our activities, photos, etc. You can find our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/jandewitenzonen/, our Instagram page at www.instagram.com/jandewitenzonen/ and our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/jandewitenzonenbv. We also recommend visiting our website www.jandewitenzonen.com for information and photos. You can always contact us for a personal video meeting. 

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions. We appreciate your kind understanding and patience.           

Best regards, 

Jan de Wit