La Unió Llauradora criticized the Ailimpo inter-branch organization and the Ministry of Agriculture for "not taking any exceptional measures to alleviate the crisis faced by lemon producers in a disastrous campaign in which much of the harvest in the province of Alicante remains unharvested."
"La Unió has not received any response to its proposal to provide extraordinary aid to withdraw from the market 50,000 tons of the Fino lemon variety, which is currently being harvested. The goal was to tackle the market's oversupply and very low prices paid to farmers, as prices have fallen by more than 39% since the beginning of the campaign. The aim is to pay producers who are or are not in a fruit and vegetable producer organization (OPFH) 0.18 euros per kilogram of lemon, i.e. the official production cost (which has not been updated since 2018) to withdraw that volume of lemons from the market. The budget for the Valencian Community was 9.5 million euros, half of which would be paid by the Regional Ministry and the other half by the Ministry of Agriculture."
"The Ministry of Agriculture hasn't said a thing and Ailimpo hasn't intervened. One of the reasons we have inter-branch organizations is so they act in these circumstances. They're meant to do more than only manage promotional campaigns. What's the purpose of having this entity if it's unable to step in a crisis like the one we're facing to regulate the market promptly?"
"The only response there's been came from the Ministry of Agriculture to a letter sent by the Secretary General of LA Unió, Carles Peris, to the Minister José Luis Aguirre. In his response, he states that he's aware of the situation of the lemon sector, but insists that he must comply with the regulatory measures agreed by Ailimpo and the Ministry of Agriculture."
"The problem is that, if the possible corrective measures do arrive, they'll arrive too late. LA Unio has already quantified the losses for Alicante's lemon producers at more than 26 million euros."
The increase in yields in the producing areas, the decrease in consumption, and lemon imports from third countries could be behind this atypical situation in a stagnant market. The data regarding imports in the first months of the campaign is very revealing. In the first four months of the 2023/24 campaign (September to December), the EU-27 imported a total of 107,556 tons of lemons, i.e. 15.8% or 14,700 tons more than in the same period of the previous campaign.
For more information:
LA UNIÓ
https://launio.org