Murcian grower-exporter association Proexport has warned that falling fruit and vegetable prices are biting into the industry’s profitability and are likely to affect its full-year performance for 2014.
The Russian veto, increased competition from Moroccan tomatoes, reforms to the EU’s common agricultural policy and water shortages have all taken their toll on the region’s fresh produce companies in the past twelve months and will have major long-term consequences for the sector, the association claims.
Murcia’s fresh produce exports for the nine months to September 2014 rose by 9 per cent and 4 per cent compared to the year-earlier period, reaching 1.925m tonnes and €1.665m respectively. The region fared slightly better than the national industry, which registered a 3 per cent rise in volume terms but saw its export value fall by 1 per cent.
However, Proexport pointed out that the slide in prices during the last quarter means that the value of exports for the whole of 2014 is likely to remain similar to, or be even lower than in the previous year.
Last year was the warmest on record in Murcia and the driest in the past nine years, which brought the production of a number of crops forward by several weeks and caused imbalances between supply and demand. Proexport accused a number of distributors, discounters and retailers – notably in Germany, the Netherlands and the UK – of exploiting the situation to drive down prices.
“For several weeks companies have been selling at a loss because they fear losing their customers and the alternative is destroying the product in the field,” the association said.
Proexport has put forward a number of suggestions to improve the situation, such as improving the flow of information so that companies can make better commercial decisions; concentrating supplies through mergers and acquisitions; more intervention from the European Union to prevent dominant players in the fresh produce supply chain from abusing their position, and better intermodal logistics to enable suppliers to reach distant markets more competitively.
The association also calls on producers to do more to develop innovative varieties with better flavour and promote fruit and vegetable consumption in Europe and beyond.
