The Spanish agricultural sector has called this Friday on the Government, the French authorities and the European Commission (EC) to guarantee free transit in France, given the violent drift of the farmers’ protests, in the strongest moment of the year for the export of Spanish fruits and vegetables by road. Representatives of Spanish agricultural organizations, cooperatives and fruit and vegetable exporters have condemned the attacks on foreign trucks by French farmers although, for the moment, apart from this violence, the practical consequences are above all delays in loading and unloading in final destinations such as Holland or Germany.
The violent drift against Spanish wine and fruit or vegetable transporters occurs at a fundamental moment in the fruit and vegetable campaign, especially in the southeast of Spain, because it is between January and March when You can sell your products at a good price for climatic reasons and because it does not coincide with the production calendars of the north.
Furthermore, the spokespersons for the agricultural sector, who in recent days have expressed their understanding with the reasons for the protests promoted by their colleagues from countries such as Germany, Lithuania, Poland and France, have stressed that it is “unacceptable” that their products and their transporters are the victims. The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Luis Planas, also rejected the violence this Thursday, in statements prior to his appearance before the Congress of Deputies.
The general director of Agri-Food Cooperatives, Gabriel Trenzado, has requested controls to restore the “free transit” of fruits, vegetables, wine products or other goods, which are affected in a “critical” moment of the campaign, as reported by the Efeagro agency. The consequences of these incidents also depend on the day of the week, since Thursday is one of the most important, Friday is calmer – in the south of Spain they load the trucks on the weekend – and again Monday becomes one of the key days for the transit of fruits and vegetables, as stated by the sector representative of COAG, Andrés Góngora.
1.6 billion exported in January 2023
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France, according to the association of fruit and vegetable export producers Fepex, is the second most important destination for Spain and, above all, transit to other markets; January is one of the months with the highest export volumes (in that month in 2023, 1.25 million tons were exported per 1,636 million euros). The COAG representative has confirmed the holdups and delays in downloads in Germany and Holland and explained that both the fruit and vegetable interprofessional and Fepex have approached the Spanish authorities to request information and guarantees.
“We understand the demands, but not the forms, we ask for more firmness from the Spanish Government,” added Góngora. He has also criticized that in France Spanish products are attacked and at the same time “70% of Morocco’s exports enter the EU from that country.