La Unió Llauradora has denounced the "disastrous campaign that lemon producers in the Spanish Region of Valencia, primarily in the province of Alicante, are enduring, with extremely low prices that do not cover their costs and have already caused losses exceeding 26 million euros."

"The Fino lemon harvest, which should be currently underway, has ground almost to a halt, and there's the risk that, in a few days, the fruit will no longer have commercial value in the fresh market."

The prices of the Fino variety continue to fall. In fact, since the start of the campaign in October, they have already dropped by 39%. In the first week of January, according to data from the Ministry of Agriculture, prices ranged between 0.14 €/kg and 0.25 €/kg. "These prices are around four cents lower than those received by Murcian producers."

"The unit cost of producing Fino lemons, which has not been updated since 2018, is 0.18 €/kg, so the price received by producers may stand below it, which could lead to complaints before the Food Information and Control Agency (AICA). In light of this situation, the organization advocates for more inspections to be carried out by the AICA, so that it truly becomes an effective tool to prevent abuses and make the market more transparent, punishing fraud with higher and more effective fines."

"Due to the weather conditions, the campaign has started later than usual, as has been the case with most crops. The first public quotations are from mid-October and the harvest in the field did not start until the last week of October."

"The losses estimated by LA UNIÓ are for fruit that cannot be harvested or for wastage of fruit in storage that should have gone to the industry. The problem is that the industry is taking advantage of the fruit discarded in storage and has already informed the producers that it has enough fruit and that it won't need to buy lemons at origin. Therefore, all the production that in previous years could be sold to the industry might be left unharvested."

"According to data from the Council of Alicante, the Fino lemon production in Alicante is expected to reach 189,540 tons, 80% of which could end up unharvested in the field."

"The increase in the harvest in all producing areas and the falling consumption, along with the importation of lemons from third countries, could be behind this atypical situation, marked by a completely stagnant market."

Source - https://www.freshplaza.com