French fruit and vegetable producers yesterday blocked the A9 motorway in Perthus, 10 minutes from the eastern French-Spanish border, according to French newspaper La Dépêche. Part of the town lies in the French department of Pyrénées-Orientales, while the other is in Catalonia, Spain.
Approximately 200 producers, invited by the FDSEA (Departmental Federation of Farmers’ Unions) of the Pyrénées-Orientales, decided to prevent the passage of lorries carrying Spanish produce into France and instead distributed their own fruit, including peaches and nectarines, to the stranded road-users.
Producers state their frustration at diminishing prices and dwindling returns, which mean a loss to some growers of 10-20 Euro cents per kilogram sold.
Claude Jorda, president of the FDSEA in Pyrénées-Orientales, bemoaned the pressure put on French producers to sell at Spanish prices despite the fact that they are absorbing French costs.
Early this morning, protesters dumped several tonnes of fruit in front of the Saint Charles International market in nearby Perpignan, blocking the entrance of lorries carrying Spanish produce.
According to the ministry of agriculture, a French-Spanish committee on fruit and vegetables will meet at the beginning of next week to help reduce the pressure on prices.
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