Almeria's pepper campaign is in its last phase with increasingly limited availability and high prices, while volumes grow in Murcia, which already has peppers of all colors available. The lower supply of early Dutch peppers means that Murcian exporters can expect a good campaign.
"Almeria's pepper campaign is ending with good results in terms of prices and with nearly 20% less volume than usual," stated Angel Izquierdo, the commercial director of the Murcian company Soltir, which is selling its last stocks of broccoli and increasing its marketing of Murcian pepper. "We are still at the beginning, but Murcia is having good yields and a good quality product that is replacing Almeria's offer," he added.
Three weeks ago, Soltir began to market the first Murcian green peppers of the season, and at the moment, they already have availability of the other colors. The campaign will run until the end of July. "Red pepper production is growing strongly right now. We hope to reach full production in Murcia in about two weeks," stated Angel Izquierdo.
"For the moment, prices remain high in the transition from Almeria to Murcia. The Netherlands has already started its campaign but with very limited volumes. It seems that there won't be a big volume of Dutch peppers in the market for a while, given that there have been fewer extra-early products due to the high energy costs for greenhouses with heating and artificial light," stated the commercial director of Soltir.
The producers of this Murcian company have once again bet on the Lamuyo type long pepper after several years in which the California type short pepper has gained ground notably in Murcia:
"We stay at around 335 hectares, changing around 10% of our short peppers for long peppers. Last year, approximately 70% of our peppers were of the California variety, which is mainly destined for export. Producers have decided to plant more long peppers because some seed houses have launched new, more profitable long pepper varieties and because last year we had a good sales campaign on the domestic market."
"We expect to have good sales prices throughout the campaign, but without them soaring too high so that consumption does not suffer. It's worth noting that costs continue to be very high and that we need to pass them on to fair sales prices so that the business remains sustainable," Angel Izquierdo concluded.
For more information:
Ángel García Izquierdo
Soltir
Autovía San Javier-Murcia, km 22.
30592 San Cayetano. Murcia
Tel.: +34 968 334 800
Email: angel@soltir.com
www.soltir.com