Juan Marín Bravo, president of Murcian exporter association Proexport has called for a wholesale restructuring of the region’s fruit and vegetable production base in order to prevent price collapses caused by oversupplied markets.
Speaking at an export forum organised by Proexport under the banner “Export for growth”, Marín said there are ten big supermarket groups operating in the European market compared with thousands of suppliers. “Sometimes our customers are too far away from us to understand the specific peculiarities of our industry,” he told the meeting, adding that exporting was in Murcia’s DNA.
Juan García Lax, chairman of Murcian table grape and stonefruit exporter association Apoexpa, agreed with Marín that the solution to the problem of low prices lay with producers. Speaking about his company’s many years of experience on the international market as a supplier to Lidl, he pointed out that it is vital for suppliers to ensure that their customers are “financially sound and able to fulfil their contractual obligations”. He also noted the importance of strict adherence to MRLs, which served as a “calling card” for producers.
Recalling the shift 40 years ago from wholesale to retail distribution, García said it was important for supermarkets to value the origin of fruits and vegetables. He pointed out that while supermarket fresh produce buyers appreciate the high quality of Spanish produce, only 10 per cent of consumers are aware of it.
Both Marín and García said variations in the rate at which phytosanitary approval was given to products from different countries, coupled with different transport regulations from country to country often served to make Spanish fruits and vegetables more expensive than those from other countries.
