The lack of produce due to the rains and low spring temperatures in Murcia and Seville caused the melon and watermelon season to end with reasonable prices. However, things considerably changed with the start of the season in La Mancha.
Despite the decrease in melon and watermelon production in the area caused by the rainfall in April, prices are at rock bottom. "They have fallen by 50% with the start of the season in La Mancha. We have stopped supplying the market because La Mancha's melon and watermelon prices are ridiculous," stated Eugenio Araque, manager of Albasol Fruit.
© Albasol Fruit
"The market is saturated with products from Seville and Murcia, now the Valencia region is joining in too, and the situation is chaotic. There is no bottom to the fall in prices. We have already refused to supply the markets, and we are considering stopping harvesting and waiting for normality to return."
The reason for this chaos is that national and international wholesalers have decided to stop taking orders, so producers have become nervous and are charging any price.
"Farmers should stop the harvest for a while."
"We'll continue to get the short end of the stick as long as there are people who continue supplying and playing their game. We can't supply the market without meeting the farmers' needs. We are not crucial, but we could make a difference. Farmers should hold the harvest, even if they must lose 15% of the crop. It's better than losing the entire harvest."
Unfortunately, the farmers are not united. "Many people rush to please the customer, suffocating the suppliers who give them the possibility of working every year. That's why there are fewer and fewer agricultural professionals," the manager said.
"It's unfair that they ask us to send our products at an open price, without knowing what price we are selling at, or proposing 30 cents per kilo of watermelon, so neither farmer nor packer earns anything. All the profit goes to the platforms and supermarkets," Araque said.
© Albasol Fruit
"A customer demanding ridiculously low prices is not worth the trouble"
"Platforms and supermarkets can force the price down, but I'm certain that if we stopped the supply for a few days, they would propose reasonable prices again," Araque said. "Our area harvests 10 million kilos of melons and watermelons daily. That means that if we stopped supplying the market for a week, there would be 70 million kilos less in the market, and we could have an influence on having fair prices. I would like to remind those of us who work in this field that a customer demanding ridiculously low prices is not worth the trouble. Some of them should not even propose these prices because they are an abuse."
"In addition, many in Mercabarna and Mercamadrid work like in Barendrecht, where you send your merchandise and then they tell you the price; that is no way to work. As a result, there are fewer and fewer farmers. What will they sell when there are no farmers left?" the manager wondered.
Albasol Fruits is a company from La Mancha that specializes in harvesting and packaging melons and watermelons. The company moves 12 million kilos a year, and most of the product is sent to Germany, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, Poland, and Lithuania, among many other destinations.
For more information:
Eugenio Araque
Manager
Albasol Fruit
Tel: +34 629 33 72 75
Email: [email protected]
www.albasolfruit.com
