Spain: AVA-Asaja asks businesses and consumers to prioritize national oranges

The arrival of consignments of oranges from Egypt to some Spanish warehouses, especially Valencian ones, has raised concern in the Valencian Association of Farmers (AVA-Asaja) due to the lack of reciprocity with which these imports enter and due to the threat that, due to improper or confusing labeling, consumers may end up buying foreign oranges before local ones. Therefore, the agrarian organization asks both commercial operators and large retailers, as well as consumers, to give priority to Valencian and Spanish oranges, which are at their optimum degree of ripeness and guarantee the highest standards of freshness, quality, food safety and environmental sustainability. Despite the sharp decrease in the citrus harvest throughout the Mediterranean basin, mainly due to the drought, AVA-Asaja has detected in recent days that some private businesses are introducing shipments from third countries, with the aim of gaining commercial margins and using them to push down the prices at ...