Anecoop has presented the results of the 2021-2022 campaign at its General Assembly, held at the Valencia Conference Center.
Despite having marketed 10% less volume (759,882 tons) than in the previous campaign, the second-degree cooperative, with 73 associated entities, invoiced 823.6 million euro in the 2021-2022 campaign, i.e. 4.2% more than in the 2020-2021 campaign.
Alejandro Monzón, the President of Anecoop, highlighted this result and attributed it “to the cooperative model that we defend and that marks our way of acting.” "The vicissitudes of a commercial exercise full of ups and downs have given unequal results for the different products. As a result, in some cases, producers were unable to cover production costs. What's clear is that the high prices paid by the consumer are not in line, generally speaking, with what producers are paid. The higher costs within the value chain prevent the farmer from getting a fair payment for the work he does.”
Joan Mir, CEO, and Alejandro Monzón, president of Anecoop.
The CEO of Anecoop, Joan Mir, spoke in detail about the development of the commercial campaign, listing all the factors that have made 2022 a year of great complexity: “It's been one of the most difficult campaigns we've had. The weather issues had a starring role. There were long periods of rainfall, calamities, frost that affected stone fruit, and pests, such as cotonet, which affected kaki and clementine production. In fact, as prices were higher than in the previous campaign, it's worth highlighting the record liquidations to our partners, which allowed them to somewhat alleviate the up to 30% increase in production costs there's been in recent years."
“There were also notable maritime and land logistics issues. In addition, the war in Ukraine has multiplied and exacerbated the negative effects of the economic and inflationary crisis, further driving up energy and raw material costs, as well as reducing consumer purchasing power.”
“More than ever, powerful advertising campaigns are needed to promote the consumption of citrus fruits”
Citrus is the cooperative's most important product group, accounting for 10% of its volume and 12% of its turnover. “Anecoop accounts for nearly 8% of the citrus volume that Spain exports, thanks to its growth in mandarins and oranges produced domestically, with a calendar that covers from October to September. There's also been a remarkable and powerful increase in the commercialization of lemon,” Joan Mir added.
"Orange consumption in Europe fell again, and this citrus had poor results due to competition from third countries. There has also been a retraction in the consumption of grapefruit and we had difficulties in marketing late mandarins, which had a record production and a pronounced decrease in prices,” he added.
According to the general director of Anecoop, powerful advertising campaigns are needed more than ever to promote the consumption of citrus fruits: "We need a united Intercitrus and the involvement of the entire sector to face the constant decrease in consumption so that citrus fruits and vegetable consumption, as well as fruit and vegetable consumption in general, returns to its appropriate level. This can be solved with investment and a firm commitment to large-scale campaigns and initiatives that publicize the benefits of our products.”
Strong decline in the production of stone fruit and watermelon. The crisis has affected the consumption of organic, IV, and V-range products
"It should be noted that, despite the drastic reduction in stone fruit production caused by the frost at the beginning of April, which lowered our sales volume by 24.5%, its turnover was maintained thanks to high prices. Kaki production decreased slightly because of the impact of pests and inclement weather. It faced great difficulties due to the lack of CO2, which is necessary to eliminate the astringency of the fruits," Joan Mir stated.
“Moreover, we increased the volume of berries marketed, with high average prices, and continued to make progress in the production of kiwis, with great expectations for the Dori yellow kiwi, which has a great quality that both the large distribution and consumers appreciate.”
Turnover in vegetables increased by 5.2% to 243 million euro. “Even though the persistent rains in March were dramatic for production, it was a good year -especially in winter- as prices were good,” Joan Mir stated.
It's been a difficult year for the IV and V range, according to Joan Mir. “If we want to be successful, we must adapt the offer to the consumer, taking advantage of our commercial network. Recently we launched the Brocomole, a spread made mainly from avocado and broccoli that was awarded third prize in Fruit Logistica's innovation awards. We'll continue to innovate with a launch that we believe will be more groundbreaking.”
The results achieved by the organic products fall far short of the goals. “The economic crisis has strongly affected the purchase of these products. Our offer is firm and we are concerned that it will have less space in the market because many consumers are not willing to pay the price differential," stated the general director of Anecoop.
Last but not least, watermelon production, another of the pillars in Anecoop's product catalog, was greatly reduced due to the heavy rains in spring. “Last year we celebrated the 30th anniversary of the Bouquet Seedless Watermelon. In these 30 years, we have consumed 2.700.000 tons of watermelon and experimented with more than 1,800 varieties, which makes us the undisputed leaders of the category. This year we aim to produce 150,000 tons, just like we did 2 campaigns ago, as we believe that's the perfect balance point for our producers and our customers.”
New integrations to Anecoop: "We seek to enhance the dimension of companies"
Joan Mir also encouraged the partners to continue taking steps towards integration, which can be done without losing their identity. In this regard, he highlighted the examples of Ribercamp, which is made up of the Sant Bernat de Carlet and Guadacoop (Guadassuar) cooperatives, as well as the merger between Agrícola del Marquesado de Llombai and San Salvador de Alfarp to create Coalmar. The entry of Alzicoop into Greenfruits, and the incorporation of the Almeria-based SAT Montivel into the Group, complete the progress made in this area during the year. We seek to enhance the companies' dimensions to improve their competitiveness in a context in which there are great movements between operational funds in the sector. There are new projects on the table,” he said.
Alejandro Monzón presented the roadmap to be followed by companies in the sector to value the orchards and their products: “We must relentlessly implement innovation and continue working on our offer. The modernization and digitalization of the field processes are part of the change. The organizations that don't understand give this a main role in their roadmaps are doomed to disappear.”
Monzón and Mir thanked the group of Anecoop partners and professionals for the effort they've made adding that, despite the results obtained, the future presents great uncertainties, which is why "we have the obligation to continue to be vigilant, working to be increasingly competitive and achieve greater profitability for our partners.”
For more information, the report of the 2021-2022 financial year detailing the campaign by products is available online on Anecoop's website http://anecoop.com/