Historic shortage of raw materials in potting soil and substrate industry |
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The availability of raw materials such as peat and coco for the Western European substrate market is historically low. Causes are the wet weather in production areas and a strongly growing global demand, especially from Asia. The Dutch substrate sector therefore expects major challenges in 2026.
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Peat production in the Baltic States, Finland and Sweden - the main suppliers for the Netherlands - this year remains at forty to fifty percent of the normal harvest volume. White peat in particular is scarce, with only 25 to 35 percent of the usual production. Dry summer months are crucial for harvesting, but due to heavy rainfall from May through July, harvesting was hardly possible. In the Netherlands, about four million m³ of peat is used annually, on a total substrate production of 7.5 million m³. Coco, the second raw material with 1.1 million m³ per year, also faces production problems due to unpredictable rainy seasons in the countries of origin. Renewable raw materials such as wood fiber, bark and compost are also in demand, but not sufficiently available to compensate for the shortage of peat.
Demand and supply
Global demand for substrates is rising rapidly. In China, the protected cultivation area grew in five years from 700,000 to 3 million hectares. According to earlier WUR research, global demand in 2050 could be four times as high as in 2020. The Association of Potting Soil and Substrate Manufacturers Netherlands (VPN) expects more clarity about the situation by the end of August. Until then, the industry advises customers to make timely agreements with suppliers to limit delivery problems.
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