Producers estimate that, even though there are still possibilities of locating the garlic remaining from the last season until August, they won't be able to sell all of it.
This, because of the oversupply in the international market, which also generated a fall in prices. According to producers, the area planted this year is similar to that of last year, i.e. around 10 thousand hectares, because they finished planting before this situation happened.
In the 2016-2017 season the value of garlic was above average -according to data from the Rural Development Institute-, while the 2017-2018 season wasn't favorable for the sector.
Guillermo San Maritin, the manager of the Association of Producers, Packers and Exporters of Garlic, Onions and Related Products of Mendoza (Asocamen), said prices had fallen by more than 50% and that the reduction affected the amount paid to producers and the product exported.
The main reason for the oversupply of garlic was the extraordinary production of China, and that of other countries in the northern hemisphere, mainly Spain and the United States. This increase in supply was encouraged, in turn, by the high prices of garlic in the international market in 2015 and 2016.
According to the IDR, the area cultivated in the province in 2017 grew by 14% over the previous cycle (in the last 20 years the extension dedicated to this crop ranges between 8 thousand and 12 thousand hectares).
San Martin said that many producers haven't been able to sell 100% of the garlic they grew and that they haven't been able to locate all of in the packaging sheds. This can be achieved up until August, he said, but it's likely that there will be a remnant that won't be marketed.
Revenue fluctuates every three seasons
A report prepared by the Rural Development Institute with data up to 2017 shows the relationship between each year's production and prices.
In the 2011/12 season the offer was well above the average and, as a result, the price paid to producers was very low. In the 2016/17 season the price was relatively high and the offer was below average.
The analysis of the trends in the last 15 years, shows that the sector's income fluctuates, in general, with two or three seasons with prices above the average, and a similar number of cycles in which prices are below average.
In this same line, the report states, the sector began to have an expansion cycle in the 2014/15 season as the income from the activity was favored by the price of garlic.
Source: losandes.com.ar