A report on the evolution of prices in the stone fruit sector since 2013, made by the Coordinator of Organizations of Farmers and Livestock (COAG), states that the difference between the average prices at origin and destination hit a record high in the 2017 campaign.
The study, which was presented by COAG in Aragon, Catalonia, and Murcia - the main producing regions of peach and nectarines in Spain - states that the average price at which the consumer buys a kilo of peaches is 732% more expensive than what producers obtain from its sale.
For the nectarine, the differential stood at 722% during the 2017 campaign.
In their opinion, what is most worrying is that there is a clear lack of reaction in the conformation of prices at destination and the prices at source, as prices paid by consumers have been stable and growing since 2013, even when prices at origin suffer a great setback, as in 2017.
The COAG, which disseminated the report "How to mess up sweet fruit consumption 150 days a year," stated that the decline in Spain's fruit consumption, which has fallen from 6.5 to four kilos per capita in the last ten years, was dramatic.
According to this organization, there is an urgent need to apply measures to compensate the disastrous 2017 campaign, which has even resulted in peach and nectarine producers abandoning their farms, as they were unable to cover production costs.
Some of the measures include eliminating the modules for sweet fruit in the calculation of the 2017 income tax and extending the expenses that are difficult to justify from 5% to 10% for those who chose to calculate their tax through a simplified direct estimation.
They also demand the immediate opening of the line of endorsements of the Sociedad Anónima Estatal de Caución Agraria (Saeca), aid and moratoriums for loans contracted, and the establishment of subsidized credit lines and soft credits to face the future campaign.
Finally, they request the Government approve a write-off of Social Security fees and Property Tax (IBI) and the recovery of the maximum percentage of state subsidies in the contracting of fruit insurance.
Source: EFE