The Spanish winter broccoli season is big business. No fewer than 20,000 hectares of the crop are grown in the Murcia region, producing an annual yield of 150,000 tonnes - of which approximately 90 per cent is exported to more than 40 countries around the world.
The UK marketplace receives a staggering 50 per cent of this, at 47,000t a year, and the Spanish crop ensures that the all-important, year-round supply continues past both the domestic and Dutch seasons until they return around June.
But well-publicised problems brought about by the weak sterling and recession have made the Spanish broccoli sector look for solutions closer to home. Juan Marin, who was made president of Proexport - the growers’ association for fruit and vegetables in the Murcia region -a month ago, told delegates at the Sakata Broccoli Conference in Cartagena last week that the industry will strrive to increase the consumption of broccoli in Spain, where the average intake is much lower than in the UK.
“Promotion and marketing have to be important to suppliers too,” he says. “We need to recognise what position we are in and decide where we want to go next. Our purpose now is to increase broccoli consumption to take Spain to the level of solid markets like the US and the UK.”
What this will mean for the UK marketplace is unclear and realistically, broccoli consumption in Spain will not improve overnight, but it must be a consideration for the future of a crop that relies so heavily on year-round availability.
However, UK production is changing and due to more durable, later-producing broccoli varieties and climatic changes, British broccoli is still available well into November. Traditionally, the campaign lasts until October, but lack of frost has kept quality decent. Dutch producers have experienced a similar tale and as a result, the market has been oversupplied.
“Spain came in early as autumn has been uncharacteristically warm at about 30°C, when it can be as much as 10°C below that at this time,” says Jonathan Pearson of the technical services department at the Lincolnshire-based growing arm of Fenmarc Produce, Agrimarc. “The extended warm period and the fact that UK and Dutch production are still on stream has meant that we have about 50 per cent more Spanish broccoli on the market than is needed.”
Insiders now think that if this pattern is to become the norm, Spanish broccoli should stay out of the market a little longer in the interest of establishing a fair price for the product. According to sources, Spanish growers are getting as little as €0.17 (15p) a kilo for broccoli, whereas the normal price would be more like €0.40 to €0.50. Prices are well below production costs. “We have an excess of production and returns have been very poor,” confirms Marin. “We are experiencing a challenge in terms of the weather and once the temperature is more in line with the norm of 10-15°C in the day and 0°C at night, we will be more in line with a normal season. According to statistics, this has been the warmest November in Spanish recorded history.
“Quality is normal, but there is a lot on the market because of the hot weather. Broccoli usually takes 90-100 days to mature for harvest, whereas just lately it has been more like 70-75 days with this temperature. We will not be sending to the UK in any large volumes for two weeks yet.”
And as a consequence, the UK market has had to hold back on Spanish imports. “The Spanish season is two weeks early and we are still cutting in the UK,” says Mark Nundy, owner of Lincolnshire-based producer Windy Ridge Veg Ltd, which imports three to four pallets of Spanish broccoli a week during the season. “It has been very mild in the UK and even the rain has not affected the quality in our area. We will start to import from Spain in the next couple of weeks, but at the moment there is more than enough UK and Dutch product around. I don’t think that UK consumers realise that the product has to come from Spain in the winter; it is one of those products that they just expect to be on the shelves throughout the year.”
However, if the industry sees a repeat of last year, when a December cold snap in Spain meant a glut in supply, there could be problems afoot.
“Tesco and Sainsbury’s have been supporting our campaign and we are waiting for the cooler weather. However, it could go the other way and we may see a lull in production,” says Marin. “Producers and suppliers are worried, but we are trying to work with them. We are putting stock into storage in chillers and are gearing up for the Christmas push, which is very important for us. Christmas promotions will start in two to three weeks.”
Although UK consumption of broccoli is high compared to the situation in Spain, the Brassica Growers’ Association (BGA) in the UK is keen to improve on this level. Pam Lloyd PR is in charge of a general campaign to up consumption and to get new customers to buy into the sub-category and will be looking at each brassica grown in the UK in turn. Broccoli is at the top of the agenda and managing director Pam Lloyd believes that improving consumption of British broccoli will also serve to increase demand for Spanish product out of season. “In my experience of promoting British produce, improvement in sales of domestic production is then followed by a marked rise in imported produce,” she says. “With broccoli, I am sure the British campaign will flavour the following Spanish campaign favourably.”
Lloyd believes that now is the time for the BGA to act, especially after a couple of disastrous seasons in the UK and said that “if we do not shout about the crop, another will come in and take the spotlight”.
New varieties are at the forefront, with Sakata Seeds taking the reins by developing varieties that can produce decent quality both at the beginning and end of the season in Spain and the UK.
New brands such as Bellaverde and the more established Tenderstem have also been taking the market by storm. The production of Bellaverde has now moved over to producer Marshalls’ growers in Spain and the company recently won the Food Processing Faraday Award for Most Innovative Large Food and Drink Manufacturer for the development of Bellaverde. Launched in July this year and created in conjunction with Seminis, Bellaverde received praise from the judges, with one saying: “Lots of determination and effort has been shown to create a new breed of broccoli to be grown in the UK, rather than import one.”
Whether Proexport’s mission to increase domestic production in Spain will hold weight or not, UK production will always have to be supplemented by the strong Spanish offer. However, how strong the offer remains relies heavily on the support it receives at this time of economic difficulty.
“These days, returns are always poor due to lack of demand and competition among the multiples across the EU,” comments Marin. “The moment has come when demand must increase and we must get a fair price for our produce.
“It is difficult to know, but we may consider starting our production a little later to coincide with our campaigns, in light of other conditions.
“We grow with our clients and if Spanish consumption goes up we can cater for that and the UK market. But the whole sector has to re-evaluate the cost side. We need to look at sustainable distribution and we need to stop going to market with low prices. We need to co-ordinate along the supply chain and exchange information with the end consumer. We need to maintain the best taste, have stable consumption and increase business in the coming years.”
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