The frosts in Italy have worsened the shortage of greenhouse vegetables in Europe, as Turkey, Greece and some Balkan countries have also suffered significant losses this campaign.
Many Italian wholesale markets have been severely understocked in recent days, and exports are virtually stagnant, so the prices of Spanish vegetables have risen back to the levels of 15 years ago.
With these prices, there is joy among producers in Almeria, especially after the quality problems they had suffered due to the floods in December.
At auctions in Almeria, courgette and aubergine prices have risen by more than 1 Euro per kilo in just three days, although they have been going up for more than a week. At the moment, courgettes cost around 3.80 Euro per kilo; black aubergine stands at 3.44 Euro per kilo, and white aubergine stands at an average of 3 Euro per kilo.
At lower but still very good levels we find peppers and tomatoes. Yellow bell peppers stand above 2.20 Euro per kilo, coinciding with the frosts in Italy, while the red, with a price of 1.52 Euro per kilo on average, has started to stabilise, and the green, with 0.91 Euro per kilo, has been on a downward trend in recent days.
Tomato prices are rising in almost all categories. In only a week, tomatoes on the vine have gone from 0.83 to more 1.50 Euro per kilo on average; Daniela tomatoes have risen from 0.60 to 1.40 Euro per kilo, and Pear tomatoes have gone from 0.58 Euro on 5 January to the current 0.96 Euro per kilo.
Alert for possible frosts next week
Spanish agriculture is on alert for the arrival of a cold front with possible frost. For now, no setbacks similar to those observed in Italy are expected, although farmers will take precautions with the use of irrigation, thermal blankets, double roofing and the closure of greenhouse doors to keep them as airtight as possible.