End of Murcia pepper export season

The pepper export season in Murcia has now ended. What is left is some incidental trade with chains in the south of France. This was written by Agridesk España in a report to the P8. There is absolute satisfaction about the course of the season among growers. The end of the export on a large scale in Murcia seems to have come with the end of June. The only chains still buying product from Murcia are from France, such as Auchan, Carrefour and Intermarche, who mainly buy the product for their sales points in Eastern Europe. The same goes for incidental orders from German chains such as Lidl and Kaufland, who also sell the product in their stores in Poland and the Czech Republic.

Wholesalers in France buy Spanish product to "fill holes" at the weekend. The sales to England, Scandinavia, Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria and Germany have stopped. This means that the international market has little perspective for Murcia where exporting cooperations such as Surinver and SAT San Cayetano were able to count on the interest of the higher valued markets and will continue to do so incidentally. Since week 27 the orders from export markets declined strongly and the wholesale market of Perpignan offers a way to get rid of the stocks. The Spanish internal market and the conserves industry in Murcia are the most important allies of the Spanish producers from now until the end of August.

Quality
The quality of the pepper has reduces drastically, although it was good until mid June. In the first half of June the companies in Murcia had good sales to most critical markets in Europe. The amount of complaints received was less than 5 percent. This is now considerably higher. The quality of the yellow peppers declined first, which meant that programmes with German retailers were the first to get into trouble. Since the end of May the price of the yellow pepper in Murcia has shown a declining tendency due to the mediocre shelf life and the damage due to micro cracking. Badly formed - pointy - peppers, damage to the "shoulders", as it is called in Spain, cracking and mini cracking are now more of a given than an exception in all colours.

Murcia supply
The export worthy supply in Murcia has reduced considerably and with it the motivation of the growers to continue to invest in their cultivation as far as fertilisation and plant health is concerned. Typical plagues in the end phase of the season are therefore more prevalent. The prices on the auctions for red peppers are still considerable, around 60 cents per kilo. 40 cents is paid for green and 30 cents for yellow. The green pepper has to compete with the new open ground cultivation. This pepper is exclusively meant for the national market and the industry. Cooperations even pay slightly above the auction price for the green and yellow peppers to prevent people from planting early next season. Planting too early means looking for trouble, as Almeria would still be in the market. The gist of the season in Murcia is optimistic. A number of growers even called it "the best season in years". The prices were good, especially at the end of May. The kilos were good and the quality was too until mid June.

Cultivation technical side
The government in Murcia has been warning people for weeks about the growing cases of mildew ("oidio') and that sulphur pots are needed to fight this natural enemy. Besides this the government warns of the rise of secondary plagues, which are common in this phase, such as caterpillars (Ostrinia), Empoasca en Nezara. Growers should put in extra natural enemies or specifically spray against them, but now the growers are weighing the costs against the benefits, which often means letting it run its course. Other cultivation advisors report that the plots with damage due to white fly and nematodes is on the rise and is now estimated in around 30% of the area.

Source: P8m Rapportage Agridesk España