European fruit and vegetable prices showed a marked drop during the first nine months of 2011, with prices falling on average by 8 per cent, from €0.78 a year before to €0.72.
The total value of inter-EU trade for fresh produce dropped by 4.2 per cent to €19bn, while total volumes increased by 4.1 per cent to 26.3m tonnes, according to figures from Eurostat.
The pattern was repeated in different products segments, with total vegetable trade increasing in volume terms by 10 per cent to over 14.6m tonnes, but falling in value terms by 6 per cent to €8.9bn. The average price of vegetables between January and September also dropped by 14 per cent year-on-year to €0.60 per kilo.
Similarly, while the volumes of fruit sold fell by 2 per cent to 11.6m tonnes, the value of this trade dropped by 3 per cent to €10.1bn.
For Spanish fresh produce federation Fepex, the newly-released data is evidence of the strong pressure that European fruit and vegetable producers are experiencing all across the EU, which it believes is putting in jeopardy the survival of many businesses.
“2011 was marked by the depth and frequency of the crisis in practically all of the European fruit and vegetable markets, providing evidence of the inefficiency of the current crisis management measures and the need for their reform, including the (import) entry price system,” Fepex added.
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