Spanish growers have slammed retailers in Germany for selling their citrus at unsustainably low prices.
Valencia farmers association Ava-Asaja has found that the major retail chains in Germany are triggering a large-scale offensive in order to buy citrus at lower prices than last season.
Ava-Asaja has warned that growers are in danger of falling into a bidding war; dropping their prices to win business and threatening the campaign.
Cristóbal Aguado, president of Ava-Asaja said: “These pressures from the big German supermarkets on Spainsh citrus have an immediate impact on the prices negotiated at the farm gate. We must remember that this season we have forecast a fall in the harvest of 20 per cent and so we are facing a balanced season that should bring reasonable returns.
“Therefore, all these manoeuvres on the part of retailers to pay even less than last year, which was a total disaster for producers, can only be explained as trading strategies based on unacceptable speculation and lack of conscience.”
Spanish growers are still waiting to learn the content of a proposed new law to improve the operation of the food chain in Spain. The organisation urges both Spanish traders and growers “to resist the blackmail of the big German chains”.
Aguado warned: “We cannot afford to waste this season, when it has barely even begun. The citrus sector is in an extreme predicament: last year there were increased defaults and bankruptcy proceedings and abandonment of farms.”
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