Israel pushing pepper prices down

ACCORDING to Jose Antonio Baños, president of the Ejidomar cooperative in Almeria, the price of peppers in the province dropped for producers compared with courgettes and cucumbers, which are seeing prices rebound due to shortages.

Baños said that Israel is becoming a bigger player in the market by selling peppers at a lower price than Almeria farmers.

“A few years ago, Israeli peppers were always more expensive than the Spanish,” said Jose Antonio, “but the situation changed when producers started marketing their products on their own instead of under a consortium. This makes it difficult to achieve high prices and they end up selling cheaper, which ultimately hurts the Spanish producers.”

Ejidomar will finish its pepper campaign in Almeria in late March. Its produce is shipped primarily to Germany, Switzerland, the UK and Scandinavia. It is also exported to the United States and Canada by air.