Spain’s fresh produce association for Andalusia, Hortyfruta, is calling on regional, Spanish and European authorities to take action to tackle the “critical situation” in Andalusia’s fruit and vegetable sector, arguing that a lack of profitability is forcing growers out of business.
In its report on the Andalusian 2010/11 season, Hortyfruta found that the value of sales in the sector had fallen by 9 per cent and the average price that products were receiving by 15 per cent compared with previous campaign.
In particular, the Almeria-based organisation said revenues for a number of key products all decreased substantially, including courgettes by 41 per cent, melons by 20 per cent, and tomatoes and aubergines by 17 per cent and 14 per cent respectively.
Following June’s E.coli crisis, total revenue for cucumbers, which had been expected to rise, dropped by 2 per cent from the 2009/10 season.
Hortyfruta said the only positive results registered by major products were in watermelons (by 30 per cent), peppers (by 7 per cent) and green beans (by 20 per cent).
Despite this, the group said that growers’ average income minus production costs had fallen over recent seasons by 26 per cent.
“The results of the 2010/11 season have finished any hopes of a recovery in the sector and have brought ruin to many producers who have been overwhelmed by the increase in production costs of the materials they need to cultivate and how the prices paid for their products have gone into freefall,” Hortyfruta said in a statement.
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