Spain: Forage prices fell by 40% compared to last year

Published 2024년 7월 4일

Tridge summary

Despite a significant drop in production due to drought, Spain remains the world's leading producer of dehydrated forage, with Catalonia contributing approximately 17% of this production. However, the current high stock levels in warehouses have led to a significant decrease in prices, which is causing financial strain for producers. The average price of dehydrated alfalfa bales has fallen by 40% compared to the previous year, and the average price of granulated alfalfa has fallen by 34%. The Agricultural Research Centers (JARC) are calling on the Administration to implement policies to support forage-producing farms, either by establishing mechanisms to recover the international market or by compensating for low prices charged by farmers. JARC also emphasizes the environmental benefits of alfalfa, such as its ability to fix CO₂, reduce erosion, and improve soil structure, and has included its cultivation in the list of species to comply with different eco-regimes.

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Original content

Despite a 20-25% drop in production during the 2023-2024 campaign due to the drought, Spain remains the world's leading producer of dehydrated forage, reaching a figure of 980,000 tons produced, of which 785,000 tons were alfalfa and 195,000 of other crops, according to JARC. Catalonia, for its part, contributes to these figures, representing approximately 17% of Spanish production, about 166,600 tons. The current situation of falling prices cannot be accepted The year 2023 was marked by drought, leading to an unusual situation of very high purchases of dehydrated forage, such as raw and silage, in the national market due to the psychosis produced by the lack of food in the field. This fact caused very high forage prices at the national level and a reduction in the percentage of exports, which is normally over 70% of total production. Precisely, this lack of full recovery of the international market, in the second part of the year, when the rains appeared, has meant that the ...

Source: Agrodigital