Spain: Valencia to see new citrus giant

Tholen – More than 100 independent citrus growers and 25 of the most important citrus companies from Valencia have decided to join forces and to collectively defend their interests through the creation of a Producer Organisation, that will be named Cítricos Transformados de la Comunidad Valenciana. The official institution of the organisation is still dependent on the approval of the Valencian department of Agriculture, however. One of the main objectives will be to create a certain stability and transparency in the chaotic citrus market of recent years.

Through the new organisation, growers can sell the part of their production which is not sold to the fresh market to industrial processors, which allows for the benefit of EU subsidies. Previously, the option to work this way had only been open to cooperatives. However, when independent growers cooperate in this way, they can fall back on the minimum industry subsidies in case of a disappointing campaign.

The associated commercial companies also enjoy an advantage, as they only pay the part of production which is actually sold on the fresh market to the growers, as the remaining part is sold to the industry and growers receive subsidy on this part.