Spanish lemon growers have called on the country's farm minister and the EU to work together to help them promote their products.
Alfonso Gálvez Caravaca, secretary-general of growers’ association Asaja in the south-eastern Spanish region of Murcia, urged action to open up new markets.
"Lemons from Murcia need a robust pr and promotional campaign that will allow us to communicate their excellent qualities and health benefits in central European, and especially Russian, markets where consumption of lemons is on the increase," he said.
Gálvez said that Asaja-Murcia also understood the need to grow consumption of the region's lemons in countries that are already established markets - such as Germany, France, the UK, the Netherlands and Belgium - by "at least 40 per cent".
He continued: "In order to do this, we have to promote our lemons with an ambitious campaign over at least five years using tastings at point of sale, promtion in the relevant media and on television so that our lemons are on a better commercial footing in these markets."
In the short-term, Gálvez said he wanted to see Murcian lemon growers consolidate their position with the major retailers at home and abroad.
"And in a second phase of international expansion we should look at promoting our lemons in the US market which has a lot of potential for us," he added.
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