The Spanish strawberry sector has closed the 2005-06 season €25 million down on last season - a 9.2 per cent drop in value terms. Despite “perfect” growing conditions, general manager of Freshuelva Manuel Verdier said the season was “irregular and difficult”. Prices fell steadily from mid-February and then quality problems blighted the months of March and April. Overproduction was also a problem and prices were down one per cent on last year, but this could have been much worse were it not for the action of the sector itself in removing “a large number of kilos” from the marketplace said Verdier.
He was also extremely critical of operators further up the supply chain. “More and more capital is staying in the distribution phase for the product, in the intermediary stages between the grower and the arrival of product with consumers,” he said. He also highlighted the problem of increasing fuel and labour costs and the difficulty that producers therefore have in reinvesting in their business.
