Spanish lemon growers and exporters have slammed the second half of their season as “ruinous”.
Ibérica Hortofrutícola, an association of some 30 producer and exporter businesses in the regions of Murcia and Valencia, has issued a statement saying that prices are not even covering costs.
President of the association Juan de Dios Hernández Navarro said: “We are being directly affected, not just by the crisis in consumption but also by monetary devaluation in our principal destination markets.
“At this stage, our losses are very difficult to quantify. But what we do know for sure is that there is absolutely no value in the trade at all. A kilo of lemons is selling at the farm gate at prices that vary between €0.03-0.05 (3-4p). At these levels, it is impossible to cover the costs of production. We need more direct aid to growers so that excess fruit can go to industry and thus regulate the price of fruit for export.”
Hernández added that the situation is unsustainable. He said: “We are barely exporting 30 per cent of the crop, while the remaining 70 per cent will remain on the trees. The only viable solution for the next few months is to send the excess to industry, but we must not forget that, in these situations, prices are so low that they will not even cover the cost of harvest. That is why we need more aid.”
He also added that the problem of the paucity of water also needs addressing. “We have touched rock bottom,” said Hernández. “We need protectionist measures for growers who are watching their crops go to ruin, in the face of a passive central government.”
Meanwhile, lemons from Turkey - Spain’s major competitor in Europe on citrus - are finding the going slow. Evren Huner of exporter Aksun told freshinfo: “We are finding lemons quite slow going just at the moment, but otherwise demand from the UK has been good. Maybe it is because of the situation with the euro, but also we find we can supply the larger sizes that the UK, which maybe Spain is finding it harder to supply.”
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