Spanish apple producers will lose more than 52 million euros if the sale price is not increased by at least 15 cents per kilogram before summer, given the impossibility of coping with the rise in costs of this product and a drop in price 3.5% in the first months of this year.

This is confirmed by the Spanish Federation of Associations of Exporting Producers of Fruit, Vegetables, Flowers and Live Plants (Fepex). According to data from the Federation, the costs of apple production have skyrocketed by 40% due to the rise in labor and, above all, because of the increase in the price of energy that has affected the production process. handling, packaging, conservation and transport.

In addition, a 3.5% decrease in the sales price of national apples has been detected compared to last year, according to Infolineal, an information system on fruit prices at points of sale in Spain, carried out by the Business Association of Fruit of Catalonia, Afrucat, association integrated in Fepex.

Catalonia as the main apple producer would lose half, 26 million euros of the total estimated economic damage, with Aragón and Castilla y León also being seriously affected.

In the words of Joan Serentill, president of Fepex‘s Pip Fruit Committee, “we find ourselves in an alarming situation in which apple prices at the point of sale have not only not increased in relation to the rise in costs, but they suffer a setback in the linear putting in danger the viability of the exploitations”.

According to Serentill, there are still more than 26 million kilograms of apples in Spanish warehouses that will go on sale in the coming months, and production needs to pass on this increase in costs to the sale price in order to “at least leave the accounts to zero and not put thousands of jobs at risk”.