The Spanish raspberry campaign is facing even greater competition from Morocco than last year. Markets are saturated with supply and prices have plummeted. Meanwhile, there are still very limited quantities of Spanish blueberries available and producers are starting to harvest some extra-early strawberry crops.
“We are very worried about the raspberry campaign,” stated Rafael Dominguez, manager of Freshuelva. "The market has been saturated with supply for about two weeks and prices have fallen to low levels. This happened last year and it seems it has become more accentuated in this campaign. Morocco is increasing its raspberry and blueberry export volumes and they're selling them at very aggressive prices. We can't enter into a price war with this country because we would be unable to win it due to the difference in production costs and, above all, in labor costs."
"Our goal now is to make Europe aware of the value of European products. The increasing competition from third countries, the increasingly limited availability of water resources, and the lack of manpower are some of the biggest problems that the sector faces. We'll be addressing these issues at the next meeting of the Spanish-French-Italian contact group. We cannot compete with a country like Morocco. Not only does it have an advantage in terms of production costs, but it seems to have more facilities to introduce its goods into the EU than the European producers themselves," stated Rafael Dominguez.
Huelva's production is currently peaking, driven by warm and sunny weather. "Production is peaking to the highest point ever, both in Huelva and, to our surprise, in Morocco. The area planted with raspberries in Morocco is increasing more and more, especially due to the investment of foreign multinationals. Meanwhile, the area dedicated to this crop in Spain continues to decrease due to a lack of profitability, water restrictions for irrigation, and a lack of labor. Last year the area used for raspberries decreased by 8% and, given the current market situation, the same could happen again with the productions that are scheduled for spring," the manager of Freshuelva stated. “Producers could, once again, grow more strawberries,” he added.
Producers start harvesting the extra-early strawberries
Meanwhile, producers have started to harvest the first strawberries of the 2022/2023 season in some early areas of Huelva. However, the volumes harvested so far are very low. "Not much strawberry has been harvested so far, except for some companies that have planted very early varieties in very specific and characteristic areas. As every year, we expect the strawberry will be available starting mid-December, depending on how the weather behaves,” stated Rafael Dominguez.
As a result of the high temperatures and drought, producers in Huelva have had to uproot and replant many strawberry plants, which could delay the availability of strawberries this year, the manager of Freshuelva stated. “This could have been avoided if we had fewer water restrictions, but this happened in a historically dry year. We hope that there will be more rain throughout the rest of the year.”
For more information:
Freshuelva
C/ Presidente Adolfo Suárez, 1 -
21001 Huelva
+34 959 248 222
www.freshuelva.es