Copa & Cogeca Secretary-General Pekka Pesonen warned “ Fruit and vegetable growers are suffering a crisis situation, hit by the Russian ban on farm exports which was the number one outlet for our exports. Prices have still not recovered. The progress made in finding alternative export markets does not offset the volumes that were exported to the Russian Federation before the embargo. Particularly concerning are the stocks in the apple and pear sectors as of 1st April 2016. Indeed, the levels of apples and pears in stock are 10 % and 20% higher respectively when compared with 1st April 2014”.
He continued “The market situation for tomatoes is also in danger of worsening following the closure of the Russian market and the increased tomato imports into the EU from Morocco. There are meanwhile only limited opportunities to diversify export markets for summer fruits because of their highly perishable nature”.
“We consequently welcome the fact that the Commission has agreed to extend the support measures to help alleviate market pressure after Russian banned our exports outright and ask for it to be implemented from 1st July onwards so that it can apply from the beginning of the summer fruit marketing year. But it is unacceptable that the Commission plans to cut by 70% the quantities eligible for support under the new EU aid scheme and that withdrawal prices are so low”.
Copa and Cogeca consequently urge the EU Commission to:
• Set the maximum guaranteed quantities allocated to the Member States based on the amount they exported to Russia and on their fruit and vegetable production.
• Raise the level of compensatory aid for withdrawing produce from the market, prioritising purposes other than free distribution .
• Ensure the deadline to pay farmers is shortened.
• Raise the volume for the Member States from 3,000 to 5,000 tonnes and grant them flexibility on the eligibility of products.
