Spanish grower groups are outraged at the low prices growers are receiving for their citrus with farm-gate prices as low as €0.05 a kilo for clementines in some parts of Valencia.
“The prices are genuinely ruinous,” said a spokeswoman for growers’ association Ava-Asaja. “They represent just 25 per cent of the cost of production of €0.21 a kilo.”
The organisation is calling for action from its regional and national government. “We are demanding legislation from government to ensure fair commercial practice,” said the spokeswoman. “We want minimum farm-gate prices and for the regional executive to put in place a price watchdog in the Valencia region as it is committed to doing, to keep an eye on pricing activity and act when there are massive divergences of this kind.”
Meanwhile, growers are taking matters into their own hands cutting down trees as soon as the harvest is in due to the desperate lack of profitability.
“Although most growers have other varieties planted that might be making a profit, no variety should be sold below the cost of production, let alone as far below as the prices we are seeing now,” warned Ava Asaja. “This year in Valencia production is down by 25 per cent on a normal year - some one million tonnes - due to last year’s frost damage. We should be seeing much stronger prices.”
