The almond harvest in Valencia begins without price for farmers
LA UNIÓ of Llauradors has denounced that the harvesting of almond in the Valencian Community has started without price for the farmers, generating a situation of uncertainty and concern. If the trend of low prices continues, this agrarian organization will ask the Ministry of Agriculture to take measures to ensure the viability of almond cultivation. Thus, it will request that the mechanisms provided in case of market disruption be established as it is the case.
LA UNIÓ has indicated that although there is a market price, well below that of last season, the operators are not buying almonds and they do not fix prices with the clear objective of lowering the quotations even more.
In the opinion of this Professional Agrarian Organization “everything is the result of an intentional strategy for the producer to finally sell at a low price for fear of being left in the tree”
In this sense, LA UNIÓ has already detected some sales of almonds without price, “being able to end up at the same level as eight years ago where it was ridiculous what was paid to farmers”.
According to the organization, buyers paid a high price for the almond last season and saw their profit margin diminished. So, now, it seems that they do not want the same thing to happen and so they have agreed to wait for the market to sink more than it is.
The California American almond, more economical than the Valencian one, usually enters the European markets easily and mark the quotations and this year they have a great harvest whereas last year they suffered the rigors of the frost. It could be argued that this year there is more harvest in the Comunitat Valenciana than the previous one, “but it still does not cover consumer demand and imports, which makes us suspect that these are speculative movements”.
According to the data available, this campaign could exceed 100 million kilograms of imported almonds, while production in the whole of the State will be about 57 million kg
LA UNIÓ has also requested MAPAMA to guarantee the traceability of the almond in order to avoid consumer fraud and not to mix with other imports. It is essential that consumers know the quality of the native kernel compared to other imported poor quality almonds.
The expected production in the Valencian Community of almond for this campaign is 5,936 tons (2,300 in Alicante, 1,654 in Castellón and 1,198 in Valencia); higher than the previous one and in similar terms to the one of two ago.
The prices that currently appear in fish market are around 4 euros / kg almonds in grain in the Comuna variety and 7 euros / kg in the Marcona, while last year for those same dates were 6 euros / kg and 8,5 euros / kg respectively
Source: LA UNIÓ de Llauradors
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