Spanish lettuce growers are grouping together to denounce Europe-wide supermarket pricing policies, because many producers face returns well below the cost of production in a season aggravated by weather-induced overproduction.
In an unprecedented move by representative organisations Proexport, Fecoam and Coexphal in Murcia and Almeria – the joint membership of which accounts for 90 per cent of all Spanish lettuce production – leaders have attacked supermarkets for not respecting an 'ethical price' for their production.
Proexport president Fernando Gómez Molina said that supermarkets' 'aggressive cost-reducing policies in order to gain market share and greater profit were leading the lettuce sector into crisis and threatening its very future'.
Meanwhile, following a summit meeting of the three Spanish organisations at the end of last week, growers have formed a joint working group which will meet weekly throughout the season and is required to come up with 'defensive measures against the abusive and ruthless pressure' applied by European retailers.
The group is also charged with regulating Spanish production at source and promoting it in destination markets.
The three bodies have agreed to maintain self-regulatory action such as reducing production over the coming weeks and not to sell product at below cost.
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