Valencia onion and potato growers report €18m in losses

Onion and potato producers in Spain’s Valencia region are ending a difficult season marked by weak demand and farmgate prices below production costs.

AVA-ASAJA estimates that growers have lost around €18m, including €10m in potatoes and €8m in onions. Some farmers sold their crops at heavy losses, while others left produce in the fields because the prices offered would not even cover harvesting costs.

Prices fall below production costs

Onion prices dropped to around €0.08 per kg, compared with production costs of more than €0.25 per kg, according to the association. Towards the end of the season, some offers fell as low as €0.03 per kg.

At those levels, several growers chose to plough onions back into the soil or give them away rather than pay to harvest them.

Potato growers faced a similar problem. Prices declined to approximately €0.17 per kg, while AVA-ASAJA placed current production costs at around €0.30 per kg following increases in fuel, fertiliser and other expenses.

Imports add pressure to the market

AVA-ASAJA linked the price decline partly to high volumes of older French potatoes and onion and potato imports from countries including Chile, Peru, Israel, Egypt, Morocco, Senegal and New Zealand.

The association said imported supplies filled Spanish and wider European markets from the beginning of the sales season. In its view, this reduced demand for locally grown produce, delayed purchasing activity until July and pushed farmgate prices down.

AVA-ASAJA president Cristóbal Aguado called for greater support for local production and warned that more farmland could be abandoned unless vegetable growing becomes commercially sustainable.

He said protecting Valencia’s traditional farming areas would not be enough if producers remained unable to earn a viable return from their crops.

source and photo: avaasaja.org