Agroaldea
Tomas Garcia Azcarate, former economic adviser for short-term analysis of the EU and researcher at the CSIC.
My friends at FEDEX were kind enough to invite me to the celebration of the 130 years of the Canarian export tomato. The days were very interesting, well followed on Twitter by this magazine (Markets Magazine). The presentations, The available videos and much more information are available on the website http://tomatecanario.es/.
This was the opportunity for me to share some personal reflections, from my brussels-peninsular ignorance, What I would like to now share with you.
Things are looking bad. In recent years, The volume of tomatoes exported from the Canary Islands has increased from 352.000 tons at just over 60.000; hectares decreased 3.400 less than 700; the producers of 956 to 320 and the workers (essentially hardworking) of 25.000 less than 10.000.
As in the case of beets, there are minimum production thresholds that must be exceeded for the shipping line to the UK and the Netherlands to be maintained. In this case, In addition, This minimum threshold is also declined for islands.
what is happening? A good diagnosis is a necessary condition (although not enough) for a useful action. The Canarian tomato was born with an important comparative advantage, as a scholar on the subject told us, Doctor in Geography Manuel Rebollo López: use the return cargo of coal ships that returned empty to England. The good climate of the Islands allowed the production and marketing of a wide range of horticultural and fruit products for the British market., highly deficient.
There is no need to insist that the situation today is totally different.. As both FEPEX and Cooperativas Agroalimentarias have recently pointed out,, the European tomato market is heavy, with prices below the production costs of the main producers.
There have been changes in both supply and demand. I allowed myself to state the following:
- The expansion of peninsular production. Almería has become Europe's winter horticultural garden, for the best benefit of European consumers and the regret of the Canarian producers who have been displaced. Furthermore, the truck provides agility and flexibility that the boat does not have., that is not seen (still?) partly offset by environmental taxation.
- The technological change that makes winter tomato cultivation possible today in northern Europe. The Netherlands has gone from cultivating 1.173 hectares in the 2000 to 1.700 hoy. We are talking about cogeneration, hydroponic growing, fiberglass, of new generations of greenhouses… Production in this period has gone from 520.000 tons to 900.000 tons per year, growing particularly in the winter months.
To this we must add the organizational capacity that they have demonstrated, with different shapes, both Dutch and Flemish producers. It is no coincidence that these are the two regions of Europe where the percentage of production marketed by producer organizations is at the highest.. - The enlargement of Europe towards the east has further complicated the panorama of the summer tomato, with important Hungarian and Polish producers in particular. Enjoying European funds as we enjoyed them after our accession, They are providing themselves with a modern production sector that pushes northern European producers even further towards the winter season..
evidently, There is also competition from Morocco as a further factor. In my opinion, those who avoid strategic reflection by blaming the Alawites for all our problems are wrong.. - This year we are witnessing what could be the end of the French productive decline. This year the harvest will increase compared to last year and this is new. On the one hand, have undergone a painful reconversion process, investment and modernization. On the other, being a deficit country, They are mobilizing the letter of national production, both for consumers and distributors.
- The local product, short circuits, peri-urban and urban agriculture, seasonal products, shopping baskets are here to stay. None of these factors are significant taken individually but together they mark a trend that affects the market.
- The overall result is a saturation of the markets, an abundant offer, the extension of the forward and backward productive periods of all producers, a continuous and multiple collision of trains for the greater enjoyment of a large distribution that is increasingly concentrated on a European scale.
Does this mean that there is nothing to do if it is not to commission the funeral home for the entire sector?? My answer is no, and we will deal with this in next week's installment.