Afrucat (the Fruit Industry Association of Catalonia) considers that the draft regulation presented yesterday after the meeting with the Minister of Agriculture, Isabel García Tejerina, is inadequate unless it includes withdrawals for composting.
At the moment, it seems that the only destination for withdrawn fruit supported by the committee is charity. "The industry is reaching its limits and the withdrawal for charity of a product as highly perishable as stonefruit saturates very quickly," says Manel Simon, CEO of Afrucat, "so we request to also be able to ship the fruit for composting."
On the other hand, removing the economic constraints for the fruit's withdrawal, the fact that the measure is universal and retroactive from 11 August and the extension of the maximum withdrawal limit to 10% of the traded volume are measures that are certainly relevant and responsive to the sector's demands.
The extra funds estimated by Minister Tejerina at between 20 and 30 million Euro will additionally allow OPFHs (producer organisations) to exceed their operating programs.
Another action included in the draft involves an additional 3 million Euro in funds for promotion, of which Spain has been granted 1,132,495 Euro for the period between 11 August and 31 December.
Second regulation
While waiting to see what the written version of the second regulation will include and which measures will be applicable, Afrucat has positively approved the inclusion therein not only of apples and pears, but also tomatoes, carrots, cabbage, peppers, cauliflowers, cucumbers and gherkins, mushrooms, berries, table grapes and kiwis.
The Commission will analyse the situation for all products during its next meeting with the Member States and experts from the European Parliament on Friday. The draft regulation is not available yet, so the details regarding its content on crisis management measures is still unknown.