Spanish courgette stagnates due to Moroccan competition

Courgette is one of the products registering the worst average prices in the present campaign, according to an evaluation made by agricultural organizations. It just managed for the some weeks, in January when it was qualified as "good", a moment when, according to Manuel Arévalo, commercial director of Nature Choice, "just had a reflection on the recovery of profitability of courgette production as Almería offered a big amount of it to the market. Until then it was rare". For a big part of the campaign it was sold under 0.30 Euro per kilo, "even in December, this product was paid at origin by 0.15 Euro", reminds Arévalo.

In the present conditions on which the courgette is developed and commercialized, counting on the market behavior until now "it should be sold, by now, at 0.90 or 1.00 Euro per kilo and not the present 0.60 Euro".

Frost reduced the local production, although, market value has not increased because of "the entrance in the European Union of this product, mainly coming from Morocco," according to the commercial director of Nature Choice. This competition is not expected to drop.

Weather conditions will generate, according to Manuel Arévalo, a raise in courgette production in Almería, but also "we suppose that it will also favor Moroccan cultivations". And since the sector doesn't have any data on the Morocco production, said Andrés Góngora, provincial secretary for Coag-Almería, "it's quite difficult to obtain trustworthy numbers about the agriculture in Morocco".

Regarding the effects of Moroccan imports to the EU on provincial business, the Moroccan competition is getting "way more stronger now for courgette" than for tomato, affirmed Francisco Vargas, president of Asaja-Almería.

Source: Ideal