"Selling Mexican asparagus as Spanish greatly damages the sector"

The Spanish asparagus campaign has started a little earlier than usual, as the weather has been ideal to ensure an optimal product quality; nevertheless, Europe still has abundant volumes of Mexican asparagus, against which they will have to compete.

"As pointed out by one of our main producers, it has rained when it had to rain, the cold has arrived at the right moment, and although rainfall has been forecast for the coming weeks, no significant temperature contrasts are expected; therefore, the prospects for the campaign in terms of quality are more than favourable," states José Beltrán, manager of Hispalco.

Hispalco markets both conventional (under the brands Monna Lisa®, Unicorn® and Hippie Chic®) and organic asparagus (under the Hispalco® Bio label). With both lines, it aims to be able to supply asparagus for most of the year, although its most important campaign is the Spanish one, which has just started and which will last until May.

Regarding the strong competition with Mexico at the moment, José Beltrán affirms that "when you compete in terms of quality, prices usually remain more stable than when competing in terms of volume. The quality of the Mexican asparagus is currently inferior to that of Spanish asparagus. The conservation processes that the product undergoes when it is imported harden it, which leads to the loss of many of its organoleptic properties."

However, the greatest threat to Spanish asparagus at this time may come from Spanish traders themselves. "As our main producer points out, the greatest damage is done when Mexican asparagus is imported into Spain and is then shipped to other destinations as a product of Spanish origin. This type of unfair competition affects not only the price, but also the reputation of Spanish asparagus. This can only be corrected with controls by the competent authorities and by reinforcing food safety."

The main markets for this company, both for the conventional and organic productions, are Europeans, especially Germany, France and Italy. Although Hispalco has exported by air to non-European destinations in a very controlled way, José Beltrán recalls that "asparagus is a sensitive product. You cannot work with large volumes of a quality product, because one aspect is detrimental to the other. Exporting to non-European destinations requires air shipments and that makes the price of the product even more expensive, especially if you are looking for quality."

The green asparagus production continues to grow considerably each year, by approximately 20 to 30% per year, especially in the south of Spain, thanks to the increase in demand. "Growers produce depending on the demand; there needs to be at least some good prospects for the production to increase. There is also demand for organic asparagus, but this grows at the same pace as that of other organic fruits and vegetables. What can be observed is the effort made by many producers to harvest more organic asparagus because the consumer demands it."

Hispalco is a trader that distributes its brands mainly to wholesale markets. "However, we have other sales channels, such as small supermarket chains looking for quality products or gourmet customers, with which we work every day. Our responsibility is to take advantage of the opportunities generated by each sales channel and adapt to the needs of our customers," concludes José Beltrán.