Almeria is closing its pepper campaign while Murcia is starting, with the first harvest just two weeks ago.
This year, as in the past two seasons, it appears there will be smaller volumes of Lamuyo long peppers in Murcia, as growers continue to switch to short pepper varieties, primarily bell peppers, to be able to export them, as explained by José María Madrid, of Mercagrisa.
"Central and Eastern European markets traditionally consume bell peppers, which also have a longer shelf life than the Lamuyo, facilitating the logistics process for longer distances, especially for Eastern Europe, which shipping times of about seven days," he says. "Murcia's bell peppers are working really well in these destinations. For their part, Lamuyo peppers are typically marketed in the Spanish and Italian markets, and to a lesser extent in France, mainly Perpignan."
Still, Murcia's pepper production could be similar to last season's, according to José María, mainly due to the limited water resources in production areas.
This lower production of Lamuyo peppers has been especially noteworthy for the red ones, with prices standing between 1.80 € and 2.00 € per kilo at auctions, while long green peppers reach about 1.00 € per kilo. "These are very good prices compared with the start of last season, when they didn't exceed € 0.40 per kilo," states José María.
Meanwhile, red and yellow bell peppers cost between 1.40 and 1.50 € per kilo and green bell peppers stand at € 1.00 per kilo.
"So far, the start of the campaign has been very positive in terms of price and we hope it will stay that way until the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany start producing significant volumes," he points out. "For now, we expect a positive campaign."
More information:
MERCAGRISA S.A.
Ctra. Sucina-Paraje los Arocas
San Javier 30730 MURCIA, SPAIN
Tel. +34 968 334 141
info@mercagrisa.com
www.mercagrisa.com