In the face the falling returns for Spanish fruit and vegetables, leading Murcia-based fresh produce association Asaja Murcia has called for the country’s growers to work together to maintain higher prices by organising coordinated exports.

In a statement, Asaja Murcia general secretary Alfonso Gálvez Caravaca said lack of coordinated exports meant that export markets were being “saturated” with Murcian products during some periods of the campaign, which was causing a fall in prices.

Mr Gálvez argued that the current situation was becoming even more difficult for growers as a result of the ongoing economic downturn.

Asaja Murcia is now calling for all elements of the supply chain in the sector to work together to realise the maximum worth of the region’s fresh produce exports.

“The concentration of the offer is today one of the best tools the sector has at its disposal to improve competitiveness, productivity and sales,” he said.

“This is the only means by which we can become more competitiveness in markets and defend the position that, over a number of years, we have achieved for our horticultural exports.”