This autumn there are unusual price developments in garlic. This was announced by the German 'Agrarmarkt Informations-Gesellschaft' (AMI). In the middle of November prices of Chinese garlic are, according to various reports in the press, higher in general than the prices of the Spanish product.
This is unusual, because for a long time the Chinese garlic was regarded as the cheap alternative to Spanish garlic. That this is not the case this year is clear from the actual supply prices at the German wholesalers. Here prices for Chinese and Spanish garlic were at about the same level of Euro 330/100 kg. in week 45. At the moment not much Chinese garlic comes to the European markets, as this year the Chinese garlic harvest is smaller than last year. And prices are clearly at a higher level than in 2011. Also from Argentina, where the garlic harvest is doing better all the time, smaller harvest quantities than last year and higher prices are reported.
These product tendencies, which have already been known since the summer months, gave hope to the Spanish producers for an open market and high and stable prices. The first tubers were taken up well by the market and prices were higher than last year, but nevertheless the positive expectations of the producers did not materialise in November. A lower local consumption because of the financial crisis is regarded to be responsible for the weak Spanish market. But also the entire European market is regarded to be quiet.