Brussels, 28/07/2014 (Agence Europe) - In a letter sent on Monday 28 July to European Farm Commissioner Dacian Ciolos, COPA-COGECA warned of the serious crisis in the European market for summer fruits, especially peaches and nectarines, and called for action to be taken immediately.
According to COPA-COGECA Secretary General Pekka Pesonen, “market returns for peaches and nectarines finally crumbled in June, with prices 30-50% less than those seen in 2013”. This was the result of two key factors - high production volumes for some varieties and regions and poor weather conditions, causing the fruit to ripen at different times and consumption to drop in some parts of Europe as a result of the lack of heat. “This is an exceptional pan-European crisis, felt in all producer member states, and will worsen during the rest of the marketing year unless action is taken”, said Pesonen.
The Commission is being called on to immediately adopt exceptional measures in the framework of the common market organisation (CMO), such as exceptional market withdrawal measures (open to all producers and financed outside of the operational funds for a limited time period). This should help rebalance supply and demand. The agricultural professionals' organisation added that “a small contribution from the crisis reserve would help the sector to recover and prevent producers from going out of business. This would benefit the economy, especially in southern Europe which are currently undergoing a severe crisis”. (LC)