The 2015/2016 season has been the worst in the last ten years for aubergine producers in Almeria's greenhouses. This has been revealed by data from the Prices and Markets Observatory of the Council of Agriculture, Fisheries and Rural Development of the Government of Andalusia regarding prices at origin - i.e. those paid to growers for the Class I product.
Although production during this campaign has been greater than in the previous one, with 188.3 million kilos this season compared to 184.16 in the previous one, growers have seen their revenue fall by 14.8 million euros in the 2015/2016 campaign. With the average prices supplied by the Observatory, producers earned 71.82 million euros, compared to 86.62 million in the previous campaign.
The average price for all Class I aubergine varieties has fallen by 15.21 percent compared to the previous campaign, ranging between 0.46 and 0.39 euros per kilo, and by 43.48 percent compared to the 2012/2013 campaign, when the average price for all aubergine varieties stood at 0.69 euros per kilo.
By varieties
Looking at the prices obtained by each variety, long aubergines are down by 13.63 percent, from an average of 0.44 euros per kilo last season to 0.38 this campaign.
Meanwhile, the striped variety has fallen from 0.81 euros per kilo in the previous season to 0.55 in the current one (-32.1 percent).