The 300 garlic producers from Zacatecas, Mexico, keep 60% of their harvest stored in cellars due to difficulties in selling it; a consequence of oversupply and lower product quality caused by droughts.
The reason was that in the previous two years, the price per kilo had reached 25 pesos, which motivated producers to plant a surface of almost 3,000 hectares, while the average until then had been 2,000 hectares. This situation led to market saturation, causing prices to fall over 70%.
Due to this, producers have stored over 20,000 tonnes of garlic to date, waiting for prices to improve to avoid having to sell at ridiculously low prices.
"It would be a shame for producers not to make any profit, but the stored garlic will not last longer than three months and they cannot risk losing it," he commented.
Nevertheless, Trejo Pinedo highlighted that prices have been going up lately, because China, world leader in garlic production, has had some trouble with their crops.
"That favours us indirectly, and although we cannot yet estimate how prices will improve, it is possible that producers will be able to make some profit," he stated.
Source: IMAGEN ZACATECAS