Jean-Pascal Scardigli has just started his eggplant campaign, the main crop of his farm. “We are a few days ahead of schedule this year because we have had a little more sunshine in the last few weeks compared to the previous season. We harvested the first eggplants on the 2nd of May and did some Integrated Pest Management releases. We are ready for the season.”
A positive start to the campaign despite concerns about the future
French eggplants were expected by his wholesale clients, but many retailers have not yet opened the French lines and are still offering Spanish eggplants. “We are at the start of the season. Last week, we harvested relatively high volumes of eggplants that we had no trouble selling at satisfactory prices. We have some concerns, however, for the rest of the campaign. Now that the first French volumes have arrived on the market, the Spanish operators have drastically reduced their prices, ending up at levels around 0.65 €/kg [0.73 USD/kg].”
Zucchinis: the Spanish competition has pulled French prices down
The very competitive prices at the beginning of the French campaign are in sharp contrast with those practiced during the winter season. “Before the French campaign started, the Spanish were the only ones on the market. The price levels in recent months have been incredibly high, reaching 6-7 €/kg [6.7-7.9 USD/kg] for eggplants and 3-4 €/kg [3.4-4.5 USD/kg] for zucchinis. We do not practice such prices in France, even with the sharp increase in production, labor, and energy costs. We’ve had the same scenario for zucchinis. When we started the season, Spanish prices dropped drastically, which forced us to adapt our prices for our early zucchinis, starting with prices around 1.30-1.40 €/kg [1.5-1.6 USD/kg], compared to more than 2€/kg [2.2 USD/kg] last year. In the end, we lost about 1€/kg [1.1 USD/kg] on average compared to the previous season.”
700 tons of eggplants expected for the 2023 season
Despite the concerns about the market, Jean-Pascal remains positive. “We have decided to invest in plants and production, hoping to recover by the end of the season. This year, we expect to harvest about 100 tons more than last year, which is approximately 700 tons, by the end of October. However, we have some concerns about the water supply. It hardly rained this winter, so there is already talk of drought, although the summer season has not even started yet. We thought that the lack of labor would be our main concern, but we are actually more worried about our water supply. I am no longer certain that the availability of human resources is the most worrying issue for our sector.”
For more information:
JP Scardigli et Fils
Tel.: +33 (0)6 18 61 11 28
scardigli.jp@orange.fr