Spanish growers welcome revival in garlic prices: Tighter import controls and a reduction in acreage have brought supplies in line with market demand

摘要

CUENCA-based Cooperativa San Isidro "El Santo" is anticipating a recovery in garlic prices in 2005/06, following a spate of poor seasons caused by the European market being flooded by illegal imports from countries outside the EU. The cooperative is set to market 6,000 tonnes of purple garlic and 4,000 tonnes of white garlic. "This represents a 30 per cent fall on last year, which is partly due to unusually cold temperatures and inadequate rainfall during the main growing season, and partly down to a general decline in acreage," explains San Isidro's managing director Jose Joaqurn Garcia Romero, adding that the quality of the 2005/06 crop is excellent.