Spanish lemon sector leaders are decrying prices as “insufficient”.
The summer campaign for Verna lemons from Spain has had an “inauspicious” start, according to Alfonso Gálvez Caravaca, secretary-general of producers’ association Asaja Murcia.
He said: “Prices at the farmgate are about €0.17 (15p) a kilo when they should be at least €0.23-0.25, especially given that there is some 70 per cent fewer lemon imports into the EU from Argentina than at the same time last season... Producers are extremely worried about this situation.”
Gálvez Caravaca called on the whole sector to redouble its efforts to try to achieve unity on a range of criteria from quality to promotion, to help lift the whole sector out of crisis.
He added that the Fino lemon campaign over the winter had been “disastrous” for Spanish growers.
