Spain
A reduction in EU imports from Turkey, Argentina and South Africa meant strong demand for Spanish fruit
A bumper harvest, coupled with lower volumes arriving from Southern Hemisphere suppliers and Turkey, helped push Spanish lemon exports to a new record this season. According to the latest figures from lemon and grapefruit interprofessional Ailimpo, shipments increased by 7% to 560,000 tonnes during the 2013/14 campaign.
With Argentine production down by 50%, and South African shipments hit by stricter phytosanitary controls in the wake of the citrus black spot outbreak, demand across all European markets was buoyant. As a result of the strong prices, Ailimpo said it had been a profitable year for growers.
Shipments to the UK, France and Italy registered double-digit growth, rising by 25%, 16% and 13% respectively. In total, the European Union absorbs around 90% of Spain’s export total. Ailimpo said sendings to non-EU markets had also risen sharply, notably in Canada and Brazil.
A decision by Turkey to target a greater share of its export volume to eastern markets such as Russia and Ukraine also boosted demand for Spanish lemons this year.
Lemon production reached 970,000 tonnes this season, an 18% increase on last year’s total. Fino accounted for 72% of this total and Verna for the remaining 28%.
Ailimpo said investments in improved farming techniques had resulted in higher yields and better quality this season.
Growers claim the modifications effectively give Morocco free access to the European market
Spain has criticised a European Commission to reform the Entry Price System for tomatoes claiming it will cause significant harm to Spanish producers by clearing the way for a massive influx of Moroccan tomatoes during the peak of the Spanish season.
The Commission announced on Monday that it would modify the way it calculates entry prices to include cherry tomatoes, instead of just round tomatoes. The proposed change will raise the average entry price and effectively means that Morocco will be allowed to export to the EU tariff-free as the entry price at which point the tariff is activated will always be higher than the preferential price of €46.1 per 100kg.
Murcian exporter association Proexport accused the commission of caving in to pressure from Morocco and other non-EU countries and effectively given them free access to the European market.
“This decision is a disaster for Spain’s tomato producers and leaves us defenceless,” said José Hernández, president of Proexport and Fepex’s Tomato Committee. “This will bring about a new pricing crisis and provoke growers to abandon farms leading to significant job losses.”
The Spanish government has been calling for the Commission to apply the rules set out under article 4 of the Association Agreement between Morocco and the EU, which requires that exports from the African country are maintained at a stable level to avoid oversupply. It also called for the entry price to be raised in order to offset the effects of the changes to the method of calculating the entry price.
EU imports of Moroccan tomatoes have increased from 194,000 tonnes in 2004 to 369,000 tonnes last year.