This year’s export campaign in the Andalusian province of Almeria has started 15 days later than normal, although prices, with some notable exceptions, are said to be better than last season.
Newly-released data from Andalusia’s department of agriculture has revealed that as well as the later start, the start to the 2010/11 campaign has been marked by a major increase in aubergine and courgette production – up by 400ha compared with the season before.
By contrast, early cucumber production has dropped sharply, according to the regional agricultural authorities.
Despite this, Francisco Vargas, president of local association Asaja Almeria, told Spanish news agency Efe that, aided in part by delays to the Moroccan and Dutch campaigns, growers were benefiting from “good prices in certain products”.
Less positively, fellow association Coag Almeria said there had been a major fall in prices for one of the zone’s key products, aubergine, with in many cases the returns received by growers failing to cover the costs of harvesting.
In a statement, the group said that the average prices received for large aubergines dropped below €0.15 per kilo, which had led to many producers preferring to store rather than sell their products.
