"Spain: After the "invasion" of Moroccan tomato, it's time for the Turkish lemon"

The sector is going through an real price crisis due to competition from Turkey, that is winning a share of the citrus market from Murcia. Producers in the region keep looking for new markets in order to keep exporting.

Bad news keep coming for farmers from Murcia. Some weeks ago the EU signed an agreement opening the door, almost completely, to agricultural products from Morocco to enter Europe, causing especial concern in the tomato sector. Now there's another threat for the Murcian farming: the Turkish lemon.

Despite not being a new competitor, since Turkey has exported to Europe for years its advance has placed citrus farmers in the region close to breaking line due to the resultant price drop.

For the top quality lemon, at origin, prices dropped in this campaign around 25% due to competition from the Turkish production that, according to the Lemon and Grapefruit Interprofessional (Ailimpo), gets into Europe without any health plan control.

This is the same cry of opposition that is uttered by the tomato sector.Farmers consider the attitude to be discriminatory towards European products, as they are submitted to rigorous health plan controls by the EU, "that make commercialization more expensive and we have to compete at a disadvantage", said Rafael Sánchez, president of Ailimpo.