Spanish fresh produce groups are urging the immediate and urgent launch of EU-wide promotional campaigns to boost consumption of the country’s fruit and vegetable exports, which have been hard hit by fears surrounding the German E.coli outbreak.
National federation Fepex believes the cost of these promotional campaigns should form part of a compensation package from the European Commission and should focus on products such as stonefruit, melons and watermelons, which are now in peak production.
The organisation said the promotions should be reinforced by a consumer-focused communications campaign, in coordination with major retailers, that stresses the quality and safety of Spanish fruits and vegetables.
Andalusia-based fresh produce association Hortyfruta has also called on the Spanish government to immediately launch promotional campaigns to “restore Spanish fresh produce’s reputation for quality and safety”.
Such campaigns, it said, were urgently needed to “achieve the reactivation” of Andalusia’s horticultural sector, the principal motor of the autonomous community’s economy.
Hortyfruta added that its representatives would also be taking an active part in a new promotional and communications group established by the Spanish ministry of agriculture to restore the good image of Spanish fruits and vegetables.
Fepex earlier rejected the latest compensation package put forward by the European Commission as “insufficient” and “lacking a single measure to restore the reputation of the Spanish fresh produce sector'.
