Ibergarlic Spain starts garlic export in June

Last week, Ibergarlic SL Spain started with the Spanish harvest of the earliest garlic variety, which is also called 'Spring' according to Alexis Mul, owner of Temu BV Holland. "It's actually garlic of Chinese origin. This variety is between 60 and 90 millimetres size-wise, and has a nice round shape. Like all Chinese garlic, it is significantly less flavoursome than the Spanish Morado garlic. The first week of June we hope to ship this variety to the Netherlands. In June we're also starting the harvest of Spanish white and Morado garlic, which will by dry enough to be shipped at the end of that month."

The Spanish garlic was extremely cheap last season. Alexis explains that this is due to some growers having financial problems during harvest times, with Spanish banks unwilling to loan money. "That's why they sold the garlic below the cost price, mainly to Italian importers, who were thus able to offer the garlic more cheaply on the European market than the Spanish exporters. Because the Spanish garlic was so cheap, hardly any garlic came in from South America in winter, and the Spanish market was drained. A lot less was sown as well, and so the expectation is that prices will be higher this year at the start of the season."

Competition from China
Alexis is unable to say how big the Spanish production is, but he does know that competition for the Spanish garlic mainly comes from China. Alexis: "It is clear that too many licences are circulating, which means too much Chinese garlic is entering the market." According to Alexis, there are also rumours in Spain that China is moving away from garlic production to ginger production, and that this shift would decrease cultivation there by 25%. Temu hasn't received reports on that from China, however.

As far as Alexis is concerned, the consumer would ask more for the Spanish Morado variety in future: "It would be nice if the customers returned to the Spanish Morado variety. Although this garlic isn't larger than 60 millimetres when it comes to size, in terms of flavour and shelf life it's far superior to the rest of the dry garlic on the European market. The Morado can be stored longer as well. Another disadvantage of Chinese garlic is that it tends to sprout very quickly."

Ibergarlic SL Spain was founded by Alexis and his business partner Manuel López. This was in 1999, after he had taken over Temu BV from his father, who founded the company in 1976. Alexis: "Since we'd been supplying to English supermarket chains for years, and no warehouses adhered to the stricter quality demands back then, we were forced to build a completely new warehouse. We were also the first Spanish garlic producer to obtain the EurepGAP certificate (now GlobalGAP) at the time."

For more information:

Ibergarlic S.L.
Alexis Mul
Tel: +34 957 664316
Fax: +34 957 653240
info@ibergarlic.com
www.ibergarlic.com