In an interview with Efeagro, the manager of the Association of Organizations of Fruit and Vegetable Producers of Almeria (Coexphal), Luis Miguel Fernandez, said he trusted vegetable consumption would recover when food prices stopped increasing. Vegetable prices have increased by more than 25% in the last twelve months affecting consumption, which, according to the latest data from the Panel of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food (MAPA), has decreased by 13.9% in the last year in Spanish households.
"I hope that consumption will recover, not only in Spain but also in important export markets such as Germany, where it has declined by 8%."
In this inflationary stage, he said, production costs began to rise in October 2021. "Now they are 30% higher than on that date, which makes it more difficult to maintain our competitiveness when compared to other productions, such as those from Morocco," he added.
The modification of the Food Chain Law to force all links to sell above cost is nothing more than a "nice theory" for the greenhouse vegetable sector as it is not applicable to Moroccan imports, Luis Miguel Fernandez stated.
Regarding Brussels' proposal to ban single-use packaging for fruit and vegetable products that weigh less than 1.5 kilograms, he expressed hope that the Spanish Government would modify this regulatory framework to include exceptions to its content, as the responsible use of packaging increases the shelf life of food.
The manager of Coexphal also said that the conditions proposed by the Executive to be eligible for European aid from the Spanish Recovery, Transformation, and Resilience Plan should be changed because, since they involved a minimum investment of 100,000 euro, no one in the sector had requested them.
Source: efeagro.com