Copa and Cogeca sent a letter to the EU Commission today calling for additional support to aid EU fruit and vegetable growers hit by the Russian crisis, warning the market situation is critical.
Copa-Cogeca Secretary-General Pekka Pesonen stressed “Action taken so far to help producers cope with the severe impact of the Russian export ban is a step forward but average prices for some fruit and vegetables are still critical, being significantly less than the average of the past years. Market prices do not even cover production costs and producers are experiencing serious liquidity problems”.
Copa and Cogeca therefore call for the EU scheme to be reviewed in order to prevent the market situation from deteriorating further in the upcoming season for vegetables, summer fruit like peaches and nectarines and soft fruit.
Under the scheme, the withdrawal of products from the market which are then distributed free depends on the demands of charities and storage capacity is reaching its limits. That is why we need to increase compensation for withdrawals for other uses like for compost and biogas to take into account transport costs and free up some storage space for the upcoming season. Copa-Cogeca is also calling for summer fruit and red fruits to be eligible for the scheme to prevent the market deteriorating for these products in the upcoming season. We urge the Commission to introduce a 5000 tonne quota per Member state to use accordingly. Finally, money allocated to the scheme must also be kept for fruit and vegetables as funds have not yet been fully used.
Last year, summer and soft fruit producers suffered huge losses and the support measures came too late at the end of August. Growers really need a good season this year to recover. Action is crucial.
