The prices being reached by Almeria's horticultural products in recent weeks have been rated "catastrophic" by the general secretary of UPA-Almería, Francisca Iglesias. The situation is so severe, that millions of kilos of tomatoes, peppers and even aubergines are being thrown away. It is possibly the worst campaign in the past three years.
As explained by the president of Asaja-Almería, Francisco Vargas, bad prices are leading "some growers to leave between two and three kilograms of peppers unharvested, as well as five to six kilos of aubergines. "Many of these vegetables are used as livestock feed. Tomatoes are, however, the product of which larger volumes are being thrown away. A part of them, as explained by Francisco Góngora, president of Hortyfruta, is being donated to "NGOs and the Food Bank, as long as they are first quality produce, which is in most cases."
No product is safe from bad prices, with all of them standing well below the levels of the past two seasons. To give an example, tomato and pepper prices during week 18 have been, according to Coexphal, around 30% lower than in the previous week and 40% lower than last season.
The tail-end of the autumn/winter campaign, which has been extended due to the high temperatures recorded during almost the entire year, is being terrible. Among the causes, the president of the Fruit and Vegetable Interprofessional organisation of Andalusia (Hortyfruta), Francisco Góngora, has pointed to "the weather, which has led our autumn production to overlap for longer with that of third countries."
Hortyfruta's president also said that the prolongation of Almeria's autumn-winter campaign is due to the "emergence of the New Delhi virus, which had an impact on the courgette cycle."
Iglesias believes that the "high temperatures registered throughout the year have led to an overproduction that the market is unable to absorb".
High temperatures have also been recorded in competing countries, such as the Netherlands, Belgium and France, where, as explained by the president of Asaja-Almeria, Francisco Vargas, "a part of their production is already on the market." To this we must add the European Union's horticultural product consumption data, which, as a result of the recession, have registered drops and are still far from the levels recorded in previous years.
Another cause for the low prices is that the quality of the produce that has been kept is not as good as that of the newly harvested crops being introduced these days into the market by competitors.
Fear to the impact of the New Delhi virus on the two flagship products of the spring, melons and watermelons, has caused, as explained by the president of Asaja-Almería, "greater overproduction in other products," which has also had an effect on prices.
However, Francisco Vargas said that, despite the increased production, "the markets are receiving the same volumes as last season, with much of the vegetable production being left on the ground and being used as livestock feed."
The president of the Hortyfruta reminded that "the decision to refuse selling horticultural products below a certain price belongs to the marketers."
The month and a half (between January and March) when pepper prices were acceptable, despite coinciding with the highest peak in production "has not compensated for the rest of the year's bad prices;" an opinion shared by both Francisca Iglesias and Manuel Arévalo, of Nature Choice's Marketing Department.
Source: valenciafruits.com
