Fruit and vegetable producers in the Spanish provinces of Almeria and Granada are experiencing decreases in yield due to the cold and heavy rains. The fact that the expected production figures for tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, eggplant, peppers and many other products, whose production has decreased significantly, cannot be reached, puts the producers in trouble.
This decrease in production causes insufficient supply to the market and increases the product prices.
According to analysis by Juan Carlos Pérez Mesa, professor of economics and Business Administration at the University of Almería, the highest price increases occurred in eggplant, zucchini and cucumber. While the prices of these products increased almost twice, it was stated that the price increase in tomatoes was 60% and the lowest increase was in pepper with 17%.
The weekly tomato and cucumber monitoring data of the Almeria Fruit and Vegetable Producers Association show that these high increases in prices are due to the serious decrease in production.
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Saying that tomato production decreased by 27% in the first week of the year, Juan Carlos Pérez Mesa stated that with a similar decrease, there was a 30% decrease in cucumber production in the second week of the year. Juan Carlos Pérez Mesa said that they expect a decrease in values close to these rates in the next few days, and also in zucchini and eggplant.
Stating that price increases always seem to be good news for manufacturers, Pérez Mesa stated that this time the increases were due to serious product losses and that the prices had already passed the level that sets the end consumers' stop-purchase threshold.
The fact that end consumers stop or reduce their purchases in the face of high prices, as well as the serious decrease in production due to cold weather and rains, show that both the Spanish manufacturer and the companies supplying these products will face serious losses.