MADRID: The importers focusing on Spain are currently experiencing their peak season. Due to the cold and the limited water supplies, the quantities availability in some fruit areas is rather limited and the prices are rising accordingly. Therefore, wholesalers are looking for alternatives.
The prices for Spanish vegetables are currently at a relatively high level, something which importers will confirm. Especially with zucchinis and peppers one has to deal with a substantial shortage of goods and corresponding price increases. “Concerning zucchini’s we have already accessed Italian goods. For peppers, there are few alternatives that are really cheaper,” says Jörg Sailer, buyer and seller of Munich fruit agency Klaus Burkert. ortunately, the company has a reliable cucumber producer. Sailer: “He has no quality issues. When he realizes that his goods are getting qualitatively weaker, he stops. But that is not the case at the moment. The water supply for agriculture is uncertain. Of course, if the rains will not come, this will be felt next summer.” At the Ulmer GmbH & Co. KG the current market situation is for the most part similar, as Carmen Schäck confirms. “Zucchini prices are high and in the cucumber area, the prices are fixed.” Here, too, the weather makes that there is not too much produce, although the prices are not as high as last week, as currently zucchini from Morocco and Italy are becoming available. “And the weather is expected to improve somewhat in our cultivation areas.” Ulmer GmbH & Co. KG has existed for almost 60 years and is a Baden Württemberg-based company that has largely grown into Spanish fruit imports.