Agroponiente is already involved in its normal activities for the 2015/2016 campaign in terms of marketing at origin, preparation and harvesting, and in early September it has already performed an analysis aimed at providing information to growers in the province of Almeria regarding the reality of the prices paid in the sector.
Price is the most important argument in the context of Almeria's agriculture, and at the same time, there is often little clarity; therefore, Agroponiente has carried out this analysis, which will give producers the possibility of accessing clearer, accurate and real data with regard to the prices paid for each fruit and vegetable variety.
According to the president of Grupo Agroponiente, Diego Amat, "the decision on the company that the grower will use to sell his/her production is absolutely crucial. It is a decision that producers often make after thoroughly studying the market. We, at Agroponiente, wanted to help them in making that decision by comparing the prices paid for each product with industry averages. The results say a lot and we wanted to make a great effort to convey this to the growers, both to those already working with us as well as to the rest, since it is our duty to offer them as much information as possible to help them make their decisions."
The most conclusive evidence cast by this comparison, for which Agroponiente has made use of prices from the Official Observatory of the Government of Andalusia, is that, in the 2014/2015 season, Agroponiente's average prices have always been higher than the sector’s average for all marketed products.
It is a telling fact and, at the same time, not easy to come by, since Agroponiente sells more than 20 varieties of products such as peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, courgettes, aubergines, green beans, melons, watermelons or Chinese cabbage. The data also clearly reflected "regularity in both field work and in business, with solid, lasting and close relationships with all major traders in the European market. It is not easy to reach the degree of trust that European customers have in Agroponiente, which is the result of many years of hard work and doing things right, both at field level and with our services to producers and customers," stated Diego Amat. Only this can explain Agroponiente's degree of penetration after almost 30 years, selling 250 million kilos in a single campaign and working each year with more than 2,000 producers.
Comparative data
The price difference per kilo between Agroponiente and the sector averages is especially clear for products such as beans, with a difference of 35 cents for flat green beans (1.89 Euro for Agroponiente, compared to the average 1.54) and of 17 cents for round green beans (2.32 for Agroponiente, compared to the average 2.15). The difference is also remarkable for other products, such as green bell peppers (8 cents over the sector average; 0.74 compared to 0.66 Euro) and red bell peppers (7 cents more for Agroponiente, 0.85 compared to 0.78 Euro).
There is also a wide gap for three other products, for which Agroponiente pays an average of six cents more than the sector as a whole: Spanish cucumbers (0.61 compared to the average 0.55 Euro); long aubergines (0.50 compared to 0.44 Euro) and pear tomatoes (0.53 compared to 0.47 Euro).
For three other products there is a gap of five cents in favour of Agroponiente: courgettes (0.91 compared to 0.86 Euro), red Lamuyo peppers (0.93 compared to 0.88 Euro) and Long-life tomatoes (0.58 compared to 0.53 Euro); while for the green Lamuyo Agroponiente has paid 4 more cents than the sector average (0.70 compared to 0.66 Euro).
These differences in favour of Agroponiente are registered for all products sold by the company. For example, there is a gap of three cents per kilo for products such as striped aubergine (0.87 compared to 0.84 Euro), Italian peppers (0.87 compared to 0.84 Euro) and yellow bell peppers (0.84 compared to 0.81 Euro), on the vine tomatoes (0.63 compared to 0.60 Euro), cherry tomatoes (1.14 compared to 1.11 Euro) and cherry on the vine (0.96 compared to 0.93 Euro).
Even for products where Agroponiente is closer to the sector average are prices higher for Agroponiente. This includes Almeria cucumbers (0.47 over 0.46 Euro), French cucumber (0.57 over 0.56 Euro) and smooth tomatoes (0.57 compared to 0.56 Euro).
All comparative data and detailed analyses are published on the website www.damosvaloraloquehaces.com.
Source: elejidoactualidad.com
