Stonefruit exporters from Spain’s Andalusia region have revealed that the ‘cucumber crisis’ has had a negative effect on not just vegetable producers, with the sector experiencing a “disastrous” season as a result of the damage done to the image of Spanish products.
According to regional association Asociafruit, the false accusations made by the German authorities linking Spanish cucumbers to the E.coli outbreak in the country have led to “fear and distrust” of Spanish fresh produce in general.
In the case of Germany, the organisation said that the volume of stonefruit sold had “not even reached” 20 per cent of the total sold last season, with even more severe falls in sales reported in other important markets, such as France and the Netherlands.
With orders as a whole down by over 50 per cent compared with the last campaign, Asociafruit said been forced to reduce prices by 35 per cent, which took them “dramatically below the cost of production”.
The group said that although the Andalusian stonefruit season had started with lower-than-normal volumes as a result of heavy rains during the early part of the year, there had been hope in the sector that this would be eased by improved prices in export markets.
However, it said that “not even the worst omens pointed to the stonefruit campaign for peaches, nectarines and plums being as negative as the actual one”.
