FEPEX's Stonefruit Committee, formed by representatives of the associations of exporting producers from Andalusia, Murcia, Extremadura, Aragon, La Rioja, Catalonia and Valencia, which met last week in Madrid, considered the urgent adoption of crisis management measures by the European Commission as crucial for the proper development of the campaign this year, which will start with significant volumes next May.
To prevent the crisis suffered by the stonefruit sector in 2014, which had a negative impact on prices, FEPEX's Stonefruit Committee considers it essential for crisis management measures to be adopted from the start of the campaign. These measures should prevent any market disturbances from reaching the extent of last season's crisis, and to this end, two main measures have been proposed:
- The exceptional measures within the framework of Regulation (EU) No. 1031/2014 and 1371/2014, assigning maximum withdrawal volumes for all products from 15 May and up to the end of the Russian veto.
- An increase in the maximum withdrawal volumes for stonefruit products, taking production costs into account.
These measures were already requested last March by the contact group of peaches and nectarines from France, Italy and Spain, both to the Ministers of Agriculture of the three countries and to the European Commission.
FEPEX's Stonefruit Committee also believes that another necessary measure to manage any crises is the approval of payment in kind for the processing of withdrawn products intended for free distribution.
The Committee also discussed the possibility of opening new markets for the export of Spanish stonefruit, with the Chinese market considered as a priority this campaign.
FEPEX's Stonefruit Committee is formed by ASOCIAFRUIT (Andalusia), Afrucat (Catalonia), APOEXPA (Murcia), Afruex (Extremadura), APEPH, AEAMDE and EXCOFRUT (Aragon), ARIFRUT (La Rioja) and FEXPHAL (Valencia). The products represented are: apricot, cherry, plum, peach and nectarine.