Spanish fresh produce federation Fepex has met with the country’s minister for rural affairs, Josep Puxeu, to propose a range of measures, including the tightening of import controls, to aid the country’s crisis-hit fruit and vegetable sector.
The federation, along with representatives from major associations across Spain, held a meeting with the minister earlier this week to put forward to a series of proposals that it believes could ease pressure on Spanish producers.
Among the measures being proposed is a call for tighter customs controls of fresh produce imports entering the European Union, which Fepex said, in an apparent reference of controversial Moroccan tomato imports, would “guarantee” that exporters “complied with commercial agreements”.
The organisation also emphasised the need for the Spanish government to urgently open lines of credit in order to enable growers to invest in both indoor and outdoor production – something that has proved difficult during the economic recession.
Fepex also called on the authorities to put in place “specific measures” for the nationwide modernisation of greenhouse and outdoor production.
According to Murcia-based fresh produce association Proexport, which was present at the meeting, there has been a “significant fall” in fruit and vegetable exports from the country over recent months, which highlights the “serious situation facing one of the motors of Spain's economy”.
Proexport’s managing director, Fernando Gomez, said the threats facing the Spanish fresh produce sector “could force the abandonment of farms”.
These, he said, included “the opening of Europe to non-EU exports, the fall in returns combined with rising production costs and the ageing of Spanish facilities”, which contrasted with investments in new infrastructure in northern Europe. All of which, Mr Gomez said, was increasing the level of competition for Spanish producers.
“We must have better customs controls to ensure that non-EU exporters comply with the price and volume conditions of entry,” he added. “We also need to reform the entry price system to prevent fraud.”
