"The market is very slow and we still have a lot of melon production that needs to be sold," explains Virginia Domínguez de la Costa, a self-employed trader. Prices at the moment are about 0.40 Euro cheaper than last year. "In the end, the growers are the ones on the losing end." This trading company has a volume of 200,000 kilos of melons for direct sale from the field, in addition to the goods that are in storage.
One of the reasons for the low demand for melons, according to Domínguez, is the rising popularity of fresh cut products. "They do a lot of damage, since they get people used to avoid peeling or cutting the fruit themselves. Furthermore, she assures that growers suffer a lack of protection. "Nobody is doing anything to help Spanish agriculture; we don't know how to defend ourselves against the foreign production that is being imported."
Domínguez points out that it was not until this year that she has really seen strawberry producers uniting to defend their goods and demand reasonable prices at large retailers. "If this was widespread in all sectors, the situation would be very different."
As for the international market, the great competition from Moroccan Galia melons slows down the sale of the Spanish production. "Labour is very cheap there and Spain cannot compete against it," she affirms. Moreover, "the Moroccan fruit is not subject to as many controls as the Spanish, which facilitates their work and their exports, while cutting costs down, and they also don't have to pay certain taxes."
For more information:
Virginia Domínguez de la Costa
Phone: +34 655604412