Spain: 20% increase in garlic acreage for the coming campaign

The garlic campaign is developing at a lively pace in terms of sales; so much so, that producers and marketers are rejecting orders for fear of not being able to comply with contracts and programs already signed with regular customers in the European Union and overseas.

"We are afraid of not being able to supply our customers throughout the season if we accept every request that we are receiving from all over the world. We cannot absorb more demand, especially because we do not know for sure how the market will develop," states Luis Fernando Rubio, of the National Association of Producers and Traders of Garlic.

According to Luis Fernando, the good pace of sales, very similar to last season, and the limited stocks, will allow for the campaign to end without any garlic left in the warehouses. "Both the market and the contract prices are stable, with small rises in the few contracts that are opening up. It looks like the situation will continue like this until March, after China enters the market with its first new garlic (of lower quality) for the domestic market."

The increase in prices over the last two years, mainly due to speculation in China, has been beneficial for Spanish and world producers and exporters. Thus, Argentina is now also arriving with good prices, as well as a good performance in the market.

Spain expects a 15-20% growth of the acreage planted with early garlic and a 20-25% increase of that planted with Purple garlic, which is recording a strong demand in export markets around the world.

Early garlic sowings for the next season have been carried out with good weather conditions. "The latest rains have been greatly beneficial for the sowing of early garlic. This week, we will continue with both the manual and automated sowing of purple garlic."

According to Luis Fernando, the increase in the acreage could have been much greater, had it not been for the limited availability of seeds and the current legal uncertainty between producers and landowners with regard to CAP rights, given that they are rotation crops. "The horticultural sector in general is not properly informed and the distrust between tenants and producers reigns when it comes to the application of the new CAP."