Anecoop sees turnover ‘fall slightly’

Spain’s largest fresh produce marketer, Anecoop, has voiced its "profound concern" over the crisis in prices currently affecting the country's fruits and vegetables, after seeing its turnover marginally drop for the 2010/11 campaign.

Despite selling 5.6 per cent more fresh produced and wine – at 659,281 tonnes – than during the 2009/10 season, the Valencia-based group's turnover for the period decreased by 0.6 per cent to €482m.

Although the fall in sales was only slight, the organisation said it was "profoundly concerned" about poor prices and lack of profitability affecting growers, following a year marked by the E.coli crisis and low temperatures during citrus harvesting.

In the former case, Anecoop said the E.coli outbreak – initially wrongly blamed on Spanish cucumbers – had caused a drop of more than €10m in turnover for the group and its allied cooperatives.

In product terms, 2010/11 was a negative season for citrus, with turnover falling by 4 per cent, despite total volumes increasing by 10 per cent and an "exceptional" quality in clementines. According to Anecoop, "very low" prices and the aftereffects of frost damage were primarily to blame.

Kaki persimmon exports grew substantially – by 66 per cent to 30,725 tonnes – although this increase was halted with the onset of the E.coli crisis in June, after which both volume and turnover fell, by 2 per cent and 2.4 per cent respectively.

In vegetables, Anecoop registered a 8.7 per cent increase in volumes and a 7.5 per cent rise in turnover, although this growth was again stemmed by the impact of the E.coli outbreak.

Despite this, managing director Joan Mir said Anecoop was still on course to meet its 2010-13 action plan, under which the group hopes to increase volumes sold by 6 per cent to 750,000 tonners, while at the same time boosting the minimum price paid to growers per kilo by 2 per cent.

Anecoop has 79 member cooperatives, which it sell to 57 countries, principally France, Germany and Spain, followed by Italy, Poland, the UK, Sweden, Belgium and the Czech Republic.