During the meeting, various issues were discussed
Market situation and expectations for the 2013/14 campaign
"The situation is acceptable for Italy and France, as they manage to balance the drop in domestic consumption with exports. Spain cannot even cover production costs for some varieties.The end of the campaign seems stable and Italy is looking to finish off stocks before starting the new campaign (Chart 1)."
Chart 1 - Apple stocks on March 1st. Italy is in line with previous years. Data concerns the produce destined to the fresh market. Click here to enlarge.
According to Dalpiaz, data concerning 2012/13 is misleading if compared to that of 2013/14 or 2011/12.
Chart 2 - Apple stocks on March 1st in Europe. Click here to enlarge.
"That is why 2014 data must be read avoiding 2012/13 data."
Chart 3 - Apple production in the main countries of the Southern hemisphere. Click here to enlarge.
"Imports from the Southern hemisphere (see charts above and below) should not affect the market, though it is still to early to comment on the early variety 2014 campaign."
Chart 4 - Apple exports from the Southern hemisphere. Click here to enlarge.
Phytosanitary problems in post harvesting
"Spain talked about using potassium phosphate to control diseases, as dynamic atmosphere and Smartfresh can really work for some varieties." Italy and France did not know about this use and were therefore interested.
Exports to third countries
"Just like we did last year, France is now negotiating with the US. We agreed to organise the visits of Aphis inspectors so as to reduce costs. In addition, we all agreed on demanding the EU to be more active, especially towards difficult countries like Russia."
Campaigns against food waste and effects on trade regulations
France is becoming increasingly convinced that Unece and European quality standards contribute to food waste, but the other countries do not feel the same, as "standards guarantee a basic quality of the produce sold and there is no waste, as the produce that does not reach the standard is sent to the processing industry."
Data exchange
According to what agreed in Girona, producers will increase data exchange, which is already working quite well thanks to WAPA.
Need to simplify regulations
"Better cooperation will also be useful to confront products and authorisations. We should work with our ministries to coordinate and harmonise."
Other Italian propositions
Italy stressed the need to work together against the proposal of Germany to consider mutants as varieties. "This would mean that all mutant apples should be sold under that name, which would create a lot of confusion."
"We also talked about the need to improve the new promotion regulations currently being considered in Brussels. Promotion is essential to support producers and produce as well as to regulate the market and prevent overproduction of consumption drop crises."