Murcia’s fruit and vegetable producers must continue to evolve to ensure that it remains at the vanguard of the international produce industry and retains its standing on international markets.
That was the message delivered by Proexport president Juan Marín Bravo during the association’s annual general meeting on Thursday in Murcia, which also marked its 40th anniversary.
“Proexport will continue leading the fresh produce sector for the next 40 years, as it has done up to now,” Bravo told delegates.
During the meeting, he presented a summary of the 2016/17 campaign, which he described as “complex, with vertiginous ups and downs”. Bravo said that as well as an ongoing drought, now in its fourth year, producers had faced other climatic issues that had upended the market.
In particular, he said this winter’s much-publicised lettuce crisis, during which UK retailers failed to heed warnings of shortages and delayed raising prices, as a “deliberate – but failed – attempt to discredit the sector”.
Bravo also drew attention to the water crisis that Murcia faces, noting that reservoirs are at historically low levels and calling for dry wells to be opened as a matter of urgency.
“Water is the eternal problem that nobody is capable of solving,” he said.
During the meeting, agrifood consultant David del Pino gave a presentation on new challenges facing the region in which he highlighted the growing role of the discounters in Europe’s retail landscape.
“Murcia’s producers have demonstrated their ability to reinvent themselves in spite of facing obstacles like the water restrictions,” del Pino noted.
“I am confident that the region is capable of overcoming these ongoing challenges and continuing to thrive.”
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