La Unió de Llauradors denounced several commercial distribution chains who have orange promotions with prices below production costs, a practice that distorts the market and the agri-food chain by exerting downward pressure on the producer.
La Unio asked the Food Information and Control Agency (AICA) - a body under the Ministry of Agriculture - to carry out the controls and inspections to verify compliance with the content of the contract or contracts for the sale of citrus fruits in accordance with the provisions of Law 12/2013, of August 2, to improve the functioning of the food chain.
The offers have discounts of up to 31% on the initial price of the fruit, which means consumers pay 0.50 to 0.80 euros/kg of oranges, depending on the chain. These prices aren't good enough to cover the costs of collecting, washing, calibrating, waxing, meshing, and nesting the fruit, nor administrative expenses, transport, and the margins of the entire chain, among other expenses.
According to La Unió, the commercial traceability of these oranges should be verified to comply with the provisions of the following article of Law 12/2013, of August 2, on measures to improve the functioning of the food chain: paragraphs c) and j) of point 1 of article 9 and articles 12 bis and 12 ter.
La Unió said that the orange promotions in recent weeks were not an isolated case, as they are part of some chains' commercial strategy to lower the prices of fresh products; a strategy they announced at the beginning of the year. At the moment, only some chains are carrying this strategy out. However, it would not be surprising if they dragged along the rest. Fortunately, the chains of the Valencian capital have already announced that they wouldn't participate in this ploy, which La Unió appreciates.
The problem is that this will lead to a dangerous discount war between the different chains, In the end, farmers and ranchers will foot the bill as they will be paid even lower prices.
For more information:
La Unió
Carrer del Marquès de Dos Aigües, 3-1, Valencia (España)
Tel.: +34 963 530 036
launio@launio.org
www.launio.org