Low night temperatures are having an inflationary effect in Almeria, Spain, to the point that the price of courgettes surpassed 1.75 Euro, reaching almost 2 Euro in some auctions. This has caught European markets by surprise, as they had not expected such a strong drop in temperatures, which has caused supply to fall by 40% this week compared to the same week last season.
This scenario is the result of "a series of climatologically anomalous circumstances. First it was the constant, abundant rains during the first week of November, and now the low night temperatures, which is causing plants to be quite stressed," says Rogelio Villanueva, director of Lomanoryas.
This situation had been contemplated weeks earlier, although not in such a drastic manner, as Almeria's producers had considerably reduced the number of transplants that are carried out in September and early October, so supply was already going to be lower, in any case.
Low temperatures are expected to remain and Almeria's exporters believe that things will not go back to normal until February.
Source: fyh