Valencia farmers association threatens action if supermarkets continue to use citrus as loss-leaders

The Valencian Association of Farmers (AVA-ASAJA) is protesting against several large supermarket chains which are selling citrus fruit at loss-leaders. They claim this practice poses a serious threat to the stability of the current campaign which had thus far been fairly profitable for all. The supermarket chains offering the lowest prices are Carrefour and Lidl, with the former selling mandarin at €0.50/kg, while the latter announced a reduction of 42% in the kilo price of mandarins, (€0.69).  These prices are very different from the prices charged offered elsewhere for the same products, where a kilo of mandarin costs between €1.20 euros and €1.39. A similar trend in the retail price of oranges and tangerines is now being detected in other large-scale retailers such as Dia and Alcampo.

The president of AVA-ASAJA, Cristóbal Aguado, has announced that he will send a letter “to the managers of the companies involved in these abuses to try to explain that these offers degrade the agricultural market and cause situations in which the farmer loses That is something that seems inadmissible to us and that is why we are going to ask them to change their attitude about it because otherwise we are willing to take action against these firms.”