Agroaldea
Agricultural organizations warn that part of the production will have to be destroyed, because the diversion to charities and the canning industry will be insufficient to avoid the collapse of prices.
The good weather brought forward the harvest of certain varieties of stone fruit, peach and nectarine, with what peaches from Extremadura have coincided with those from Murcia in the market, and the Spanish with the French or the Greeks.
This is how Lorenzo Ramos explains them, general secretary of the Small Farmers Union (UPA), who adds that “vegetable prices have been sinking for a long time.”, a long time". The market has collapsed, summarizes Lorenzo Ramos, who owns a farm of this type. By then the European Commission had already approved the withdrawal of a 5% of production destined for charitable organizations, in order to prevent the collapse of prices.
And the number has increased to 10%. An amount that farmers consider insufficient: demand the 30%. Both UPA and COAG amount to 300 million kilos the amount of Spanish stone fruit that right now remains blocked in the fields and in cold storage rooms.
Three years after the E crisis. Coli, there is no health alert, but yes about prices. Peach and nectarine are being paid at 15 cents per kilo, When production costs reach 30 cents, laments Miguel Blanco, general secretary of COAG.
With the aggravating, Lorenzo Ramos points out, that due to a “perverse operating system”, The farmer now delivers the fruit “but until November he doesn't know how much he will charge for it.”. While your destiny is decided, peaches wait on the tree to be picked, or fill the cold rooms.
If they don't get out of there soon, there will be nowhere to store the next harvest: pears and apples. “The price of the pear has already started to fall a 40% compared to last year”, the person in charge of COAG notifies. Tomatoes and cucumbers are also in danger., UPA warns.
Hence Blanco demands, to the Ministry of Agriculture and Brussels, the “immediate” release of all the fruit stored in those chambers “so that it leaves room for other productions”, and that “it is not considered a harvest; “That would already have an effect on the market.”.
Agricultural unions miss a “shock plan”. “We are already late with the withdrawal of the fruit”, urge. Last Friday a committee of experts met in Brussels and Agriculture has summoned agricultural organizations for a new meeting this Monday. If the wait reaches 20 days, the 125 million euros announced by the European Commission will not be enough, the head of COAG emphasizes.
In addition, production withdrawal is not free. Half will have to be paid by the farmer. To turn fruit into food aid, preserves, compost or livestock feed, industry must be involved. And that has a price. The cheapest, Miguel Blanco highlights, is not picking the fruit from the tree. In his view, the best option.
The unions ask that they be compensated 100%, to all farmers, production costs, and that a specific crisis fund be created to solve a problem that “has not been created by the sector, but it is the result of a political decision.".
They also demand that the principle of community preference be applied, one of the bases of the Common Agricultural Policy (PAC). “France already does it with its products”, remembers Lorenzo Ramos, alluding to the attacks against Spanish trucks just a few weeks ago.
In an “emergency” situation like the one that in his opinion the European primary sector is experiencing, The protective measures planned against competition from fruits and vegetables from third countries should be put in place, explains.
In addition, Agricultural organizations denounce that large retailers are taking advantage of the Russian crisis to “make their own August”. “Supermarket chains have already ordered lower settlements to their suppliers”, reveals UPA, but they maintain consumer prices.
Between January and May of this year, Spain exported agricultural and livestock products to Russia for an amount of 201,63 million euros, according to Foreign Trade data. The figure refers only to direct exports. Indirectly, through Dutch and German marketers, The volume increases to 2.000 million euros, Miguel Blanco specifies.
Of those direct sales, half, 101,43 million, corresponds to fruits –57.64 million– and vegetables –43.78 million–. Precise a little more, in the first five months of the year, Spain sold to the Russians 11.821 tons of peaches and nectarines, 47.699 of mandarins and 70.331 tomatoes. “Everything banned”, claims Miguel Blanco, “it has to be removed”.